KARACHI, Aug 27: A book titled 'My Parliamentary Diaries', an account of everyday life as a parliamentarian, by former MNA Marvi Memon was launched at a local hotel on Saturday. The e-book version of the book was also unveiled on the occasion.

Ms Memon began her speech by dedicating the book to her son, Murtaza (who earlier unveiled the e-book with his mother) and all the children of Pakistan.

She said we (Pakistanis) had a choice today. We could rediscover the meaning of Pakistan and act with honesty and loyalty towards our country or we could continue watching and contributing to the downward slide of Pakistan till the meaning of Pakistan became irrelevant. We could either give our destiny in the hands of real sons and daughters of soil or we could keep trusting the same impersonators who had their personal interest before national interest. We could either treat each other as the Quaid instructed (no discrimination) or could divide and kill ourselves into oblivion. We could either generate wealth from our own human and natural resources or we could be dependent on foreign powers to put our house in order. We could either allow the spread of violence, fear and oppression or we could stand united and block the rule of the few despots by holding them accountable. We could either contribute to the complete emancipation, freedom and equality of all our peoples by celebrating their diversity or we could aggravate provincial harmony by unfair distribution of natural resources.

Marvi Memon said in her three years in the National Assembly she did have a choice between enjoying the perks of power or be the change she'd dreamt of. She said she decided to be that change. She said she'd taken the first step and if all Pakistanis could take that first step, the country would shine.

She ended her speech by quoting an excerpt from one of the speeches of the Quaid-i-Azam in which he had emphasised the need for faith, unity and discipline.

Marvi's father Senator Nisar Memon said the country was going through a severe political crisis and an unholy (napak) political game was on.

He said national institutions had become weak and the country was facing stagflation. He lamented that Karachi was burning and the enemies of Pakistan had joined certain international forces to destabilize the country. He hoped that the new generation had the ability to set things right.

Mr Memon enthused 'My parliamentary diaries' was a timely book and would give the country a direction to move in. He said the parties that held sway today were neither Islamic nor working to make the Quaid-i-Azam's dream come true. All they're doing was busy with grabbing whatever they could.

TV anchor Faisal Qureshi read out the introduction to the book.

He said it was a 24-hour jam-packed account. It contained, with free access on the Internet, notes, reports, assembly committee minutes etc that the author penned on a regular basis.

The diaristic account had impressions from March 2008 to June 2011. Mr Qureshi talked about the rapport that Marvi Memon had with PML-Q chief Chuadhry Shujaat and their common efforts. Later on, the author didn't agree with the kind of political expediency that was being displayed and decided to call it quits.

Touching upon the inefficiency of the government, he said a corrupt executive and chaos in society caused revulsion from the goings-on and made her exit parliament. He said the author believed in accountability to the people of Pakistan.

Uzma Ahmed, Bushra (lady health worker), Imtiaz and Omar Karim also spoke.

Excerpts from the book were read out by the hosts, three children of her family, intermittently.