Imbibing a strong prejudice against frivolous motions
National Assembly rejects resolution to take effective steps to impose ban on liquor in the country.
Don’t blame the youthful parliamentary reporters if most of them rushed out of the press gallery to flood their channels with tickers and hype of a ‘scandalous’ story. The fact remains that during its Tuesday sitting, the National Assembly has indeed rejected a resolution, that too unanimously, which wanted the government to “take effective steps to impose a ban on manufacturing, import, issuance of permits, sale and drinking of liquor in the country.”
Rejection of this resolution surely made headlines, if you consider that Pakistan, at least on paper, remains an alcohol-free society since 1977. Specific laws are also in place to arrest, prosecute and punish a Muslim, even for possessing a few bottles of the prohibited stuff, with or without the intent of consuming it.
“Our representatives” should have thought twice before rejecting this resolution with voice vote, also for the fear of Article 62 and 63 of our Constitution. These articles clearly enjoin upon members of the National Assembly to stay put on ‘the righteous path’. Even before contesting for a seat of this house, you need to appear before the returning officers who zealously judge your credentials of being a ‘good Muslim.’
In the run-up to the May 11 elections, for example, one such magistrate had rejected the nomination papers of Ayaz Amir, simply because he was accused by his political rivals of ‘praising the forbidden stuff’ in newspaper columns. I seriously wonder how many ‘defenders of Islam’ will now approach the election tribunals to enforce the unseating of members who dared to disapprove a resolution that merely wanted to ban the manufacturing and drinking of liquor in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Murtaza Javed Abbasi, the deputy speaker, is solely responsible for producing this laughable story that is laden with possibly ominous consequences. For a day reserved for private initiatives in legislation, Chaudhry Hamid Hameed, a PML-N member, had posted this resolution without doing any homework. Instead of being placed on the day’s agenda, it rather deserved rejection after initial scrutiny by the National Assembly secretariat.
Even after its formal putting before the house, the pious-looking minister of state for interior, Baleeghur Rehman, tried hard to explain that Pakistan had been living without alcohol for many decades. There was no need to reinforce the already established ban through a National Assembly resolution, therefore.
After the concerned minister’s statement, Abbasi should not have put the resolution up for voting. Yet, he senselessly rushed into it. The whole house still preferred to avoid responding to his call. Only when the deputy speaker firmly repeated the command for voting, some odd backbenchers reacted with a cynical but meek ‘no’. They rather looked like naughty schoolboys at the prodding of a pushy teacher, but Abbasi rushed to announce that the resolution stood rejected unanimously.
In spite of conducting its business so wantonly, the same assembly felt no shame to adopt another resolution for the umpteenth time to condemn the drone strikes as serious violation of ‘national sovereignty.’ Gen (retd) Qadir Baloch made half-hearted attempts to block its adoption by helplessly recalling the attempts his government was presumably making to stop these strikes through ‘diplomatic means’ with the steam of ‘national consensus’ it had gathered on this issue.
The PTI benches felt agitated with his hypocritical pleading. Dr Arif Alvi eventually stood up to bluntly remind the minister that many of his colleagues had been ‘privately’ admitting to PTI leaders that by staging dharnas against the drone strikes, the followers of Imran Khan were strengthening the hand of the Nawaz government on this issue. No one now dared oppose the anti-drone resolution and this too was adopted unanimously.
As the opposition leader, Syed Khursheed Shah perhaps felt uncomfortable with goody-goody goings-on. He took the floor to deliver a bombastic speech against the possible privatisation of PIA. As if to ensure the government that his party was too adamant on this count, he also led his partymen out of the house in protest.
The wily Shah from Sukkur surely needs to generate some heat in the house these days. Most PPP legislators have begun keenly waiting for the coming of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to the National Assembly somewhere in the first quarter of 2014 and of course, he would hate to sit like an ordinary backbencher after reaching this house. Some diehard jiyalas are also annoyed with him for conceding to the government’s demand that he should become the chairman of Public Accounts Committee instead of Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2013.
Rejection of this resolution surely made headlines, if you consider that Pakistan, at least on paper, remains an alcohol-free society since 1977. Specific laws are also in place to arrest, prosecute and punish a Muslim, even for possessing a few bottles of the prohibited stuff, with or without the intent of consuming it.
“Our representatives” should have thought twice before rejecting this resolution with voice vote, also for the fear of Article 62 and 63 of our Constitution. These articles clearly enjoin upon members of the National Assembly to stay put on ‘the righteous path’. Even before contesting for a seat of this house, you need to appear before the returning officers who zealously judge your credentials of being a ‘good Muslim.’
In the run-up to the May 11 elections, for example, one such magistrate had rejected the nomination papers of Ayaz Amir, simply because he was accused by his political rivals of ‘praising the forbidden stuff’ in newspaper columns. I seriously wonder how many ‘defenders of Islam’ will now approach the election tribunals to enforce the unseating of members who dared to disapprove a resolution that merely wanted to ban the manufacturing and drinking of liquor in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Murtaza Javed Abbasi, the deputy speaker, is solely responsible for producing this laughable story that is laden with possibly ominous consequences. For a day reserved for private initiatives in legislation, Chaudhry Hamid Hameed, a PML-N member, had posted this resolution without doing any homework. Instead of being placed on the day’s agenda, it rather deserved rejection after initial scrutiny by the National Assembly secretariat.
Even after its formal putting before the house, the pious-looking minister of state for interior, Baleeghur Rehman, tried hard to explain that Pakistan had been living without alcohol for many decades. There was no need to reinforce the already established ban through a National Assembly resolution, therefore.
After the concerned minister’s statement, Abbasi should not have put the resolution up for voting. Yet, he senselessly rushed into it. The whole house still preferred to avoid responding to his call. Only when the deputy speaker firmly repeated the command for voting, some odd backbenchers reacted with a cynical but meek ‘no’. They rather looked like naughty schoolboys at the prodding of a pushy teacher, but Abbasi rushed to announce that the resolution stood rejected unanimously.
In spite of conducting its business so wantonly, the same assembly felt no shame to adopt another resolution for the umpteenth time to condemn the drone strikes as serious violation of ‘national sovereignty.’ Gen (retd) Qadir Baloch made half-hearted attempts to block its adoption by helplessly recalling the attempts his government was presumably making to stop these strikes through ‘diplomatic means’ with the steam of ‘national consensus’ it had gathered on this issue.
The PTI benches felt agitated with his hypocritical pleading. Dr Arif Alvi eventually stood up to bluntly remind the minister that many of his colleagues had been ‘privately’ admitting to PTI leaders that by staging dharnas against the drone strikes, the followers of Imran Khan were strengthening the hand of the Nawaz government on this issue. No one now dared oppose the anti-drone resolution and this too was adopted unanimously.
As the opposition leader, Syed Khursheed Shah perhaps felt uncomfortable with goody-goody goings-on. He took the floor to deliver a bombastic speech against the possible privatisation of PIA. As if to ensure the government that his party was too adamant on this count, he also led his partymen out of the house in protest.
The wily Shah from Sukkur surely needs to generate some heat in the house these days. Most PPP legislators have begun keenly waiting for the coming of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to the National Assembly somewhere in the first quarter of 2014 and of course, he would hate to sit like an ordinary backbencher after reaching this house. Some diehard jiyalas are also annoyed with him for conceding to the government’s demand that he should become the chairman of Public Accounts Committee instead of Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2013.