Basra upset with bureaucracy
“MPA has become a dirty word. The MPA has become the cheapest thing in the province, even cheaper than Sati Roti,” said Basra during a tirade on the assembly floor on Monday.
Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, in reaction to the PPP MPA’s angry words, dismissed Basra’s ‘allegations’ while also subtly attacking the PPP.
During the outburst that lasted quite a while, the PPP MPA also attacked the Punjab chief minister, who was present in the House at that time. “We are the ones who elected the chief minister with our votes. Had it not been for us, he wouldn’t have been sitting here. He favours the bureaucracy over the elected representatives,” Basra said.
He complained that government officials, including the DPO and DCO, do not pick their phones when the “representatives of the people” called them. “We fought against dictatorship for nine years. We were beaten up, sent to jail and tortured. But government officials insult us by not picking up our calls. We were elected by the people but the bureaucracy is indifferent to us.”
Basra said that Punjab had become a police state. “Even though I am a part of the government, I would like to point out that the province is being looted. Corruption is at its highest and if we don’t raise our voices against this, history will never forgive us.”
After the tirade, Sanaullah addressed the House on a point of order and said, “I want to ask the respected member of the House how many lashes he received and how much torture he had to bear. If he talks about the corruption in Punjab, then the corruption in the country will also be talked about.”
The law minister, responding to the criticism of bureaucrats, said that whenever a complaint had been brought up against a bureaucrat for not attending an MPA’s phone call or misbehaving with one, a privilege motion had been moved. “The matter is then referred to the privilege committee, which looks into the complaint. It is then up to the committee whether it forgives the bureaucrat or not,” Sanaullah said.
Mastikhel on fake degree ‘allegations’:
Sanaullah Mastikhel, a PML-N MPA from Mianwali, said on a point of order, that he had established a revolutionary movement. He said that since he had formed the movement, he was being personally criticised. “We reach the assembly after being elected. We have the power of thousands of votes backing us,” he said.
He said that on August 13, three private TV channels ran reports on their tickers saying that the Lahore High Court had summoned him for holding a fake bachelors degree. “I have the court sheet, which will prove that I was never called by the high court,” he said. He said that if his degree was proven bogus, he would not only resign from the assembly, but quit politics altogether.
He asked the law minister to summon a report from the TV channels involved. He said that a session of the committee, consisting of media personnal and MPAs made for the purpose, should be called to take notice of such news and propaganda.
“Otherwise I hold the right to litigate,” he added.
In an adjournment motion, Shaukat Basra said that democracy had survived in Pakistan because of the sacrifices given by those killed in the bombing of a procession marking Benazir Bhutto’s return to Pakistan on October 18, 2007 at Kar Saaz, Karachi. He asked the house to offer a prayer for the martyrs and the survivors of the bombing, after which the members offered a small prayer.
The assembly session began with an hour and 45 minutes delay.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2010.
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