Why waste time in duplicitous point scoring?

Most of the time our representatives feel no shame when they feign anger over issues of public importance.

Sticking to this habit, they forced the suspension of question hour Monday evening and started delivering impassioned speeches to express anger over the burning of more than a hundred Christian houses in Badami Bagh, Lahore, by an enraged mob. Most of them held the ‘negligent police’ responsible for this act of mass arson. Instead of doing some soul-searching to determine what really motivated the furious crowd, the PPP members also preferred to question the ‘good governance’ of Shahbaz Sharif by hypocritically wailing over the tragedy.

Our legislators certainly sounded late in discovering that such incidents tarnished Pakistan’s image and projected a “wrong picture” of Islam. Someone should have stood up and reminded the others about late governor of Punjab Salmaan Taseer. He hadn’t committed blasphemy but had only vocally asserted that the laws introduced to tackle this crime by General Ziaul Haq in the 1980s has often led to condemn hapless members of a definite community by peddling false accusations of blasphemy against them. He simply demanded that these laws needed thorough vetting and if need be amended to make them more humane and judicious.

The self-righteous “defenders of Islam” ferociously questioned Taseer’s stance. They were given extensive air time by our media to condemn him as a “deviant liberal.” Finally, he was killed right in front of an elitist crowd present at an upscale market of Islamabad. An inspector of the elite force of Punjab Police, assigned with security detail of Taseer, committed the murder in broad daylight three years ago.

Can we disregard the reality that a broad section of our society hailed the killer bodyguard? A large crowd of local lawyers also showered rose petals on him, when he appeared before the court. The prosecution visibly hesitated to get him punished on fast track. Yet, a brave judge of the anti-terrorism court sentenced him to death. Can anyone among National Assembly members, who delivered pompous speeches on Monday, tell me where that judge is living these days?

Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed killer of Taseer, has now filed an appeal against the sentence against him and none other than a former and famous chief justice of the Lahore High Court is leading the team of defence lawyers. The enraged crowd of Badami Bagh did not expect a different handling by the state and law enforcers. After all, it also had the excuse of being provoked by rumours of a blasphemous incident. ‘Badami Baghs’ will keep occurring in this country, until our lawmakers revamp the blasphemy-connected laws with some commitment.

Hardly four days before completing their constitutional term members of the National Assembly have neither the time nor the will to deliver on that count. Why waste time in duplicitous point scoring? Heading into the next election, they are set to deal with more urgent issues.

Nawab Aslam Raisani has finally conveyed it to the government in clear words that he is not resigning. Since the government has not cared to seek approval of the imposition of governor’s rule in Balochistan from a joint parliamentary sitting even after passing of 60 days, he is all set to head the assembly there after its automatic restoration on March 14. Islamabad does not have numbers to vote him out through moving a no confidence motion against him.

Once restored, Raisani does not intend to facilitate holding of national and provincial assembly elections on the same day by advising dissolution of his house on March 16. His house will complete its term on April 6, 2013 and he remains adamant on completing “my term.” In sheer desperation, the government is now trying hard to summon a joint parliamentary sitting to legitimise the previously executed suspension and the dissolution-to-be of the Balochistan Assembly. Simply put, for another time Rawalpindi and Islamabad will convey it to Pakistanis living in our most volatile province that they are yet not fit to run their affairs by an elected government. Perhaps anticipating the dangerous blowback of conveying this message, rumours are being spread in parliamentary lobbies that Dr Haye Baloch, once associated with the assertive trend of Baloch nationalism, is fast emerging as the most potent candidate for the office of caretaker prime minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2013.