A matter of four miracles

IT took almost four miracles to clear the way for the newly elected National Assembly to commence its term of office on Saturday. First, a group of 10 PPP(P) MNAs was “bought off” about a day before the date fixed for the oath-taking session of the House. Next, the floor crossing law was kept in abeyance while reviving the Constitution about 12 hours before oath-taking time. Third, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, who himself has taken oath of allegiance to Gen Pervez Musharraf through the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), administered the oath of office of the president to Pakistan’s in-service Chief of Army Staff (COAS) under the revived Constitution. And finally, those who disagree with some eight or so clauses of the Legal Framework Order (LFO) crossed the hurdle by simply recording that they do not consider the Legal Framework Order a part of the Constitution to defend and protect which they were taking the oath.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmad of MMA, Javed Hashmi, the parliamentary leader of PML-N and Naveed Qamar of PPP(P) each stood up one after the other on non-existent points of order to record their sentiments on the LFO. Mr Soomro handled the situation with aplomb and allowed each one of them to make his point. Fortunately, those who seemed to agree with the LFO did not protest and neither did they try to obstruct the protesters. In any case, the day passed off relatively peacefully notwithstanding the small procession of lawyers protesting the inclusion of LFO in the amended Constitution.

Indeed, one really felt good to be back sitting in Parliament’s Press Gallery. No matter how tentative or how defective, democracy in action is really a treat to watch. The view from the Press Gallery on the first day was one of a milling crowd full of bonhomie. One could recognize many known faces. But then there were as many new ones as well. Young ones too. And all graduates to boot. And for the first time in the parliamentary history of this country one saw too many veils and beards in the house. Of the 73 female members, at least 25 had covered their faces with veils of all sizes and colours. Beards too came in all sizes but colour was lacking. They came only in black and white. Some parliamentary veterans of the past, like former speaker Gohar Ayub Khan, former deputy speaker Wazir Ali Jogezai, former MNA Gen Abdul Majid Malik could be seen sitting in the members’ galleries. The top brass, all the four together, witnessed the proceedings from the gallery for the officials.

Chaudhry Nisar of the PML-N, talking to journalists in the lobby, likened the return of democratic rule to a whiff of fresh air. “I felt happy when I was taking oath,” he said. But oath under which Constitution? The one which contains the LFO or the one sans the LFO? That is the 64,000 dollar question and is likely to remain so in the coming days and weeks. One outcome of PPP (P) forward bloc which suddenly came to the fore on Thursday night was the emergence of Faisal Saleh Hayat’s name as the consensus candidate for the office of the speaker. “That is the result of using the carrot and stick method rather judiciously,” quipped PPP(P)’s Naveed Qamar found strolling in the lobby just when Faisal stepped there in the company of PML(Q)’s parliamentary leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. As the two strode in one direction rather purposefully Maulana Azam Tariq of the defunct Sipah-i-Sahaba was seen whispering something into the ears of Shujaat which made Chaudhry sahib laugh loudly. Something very, very unusual! Some said, those who had promised on Friday to vote for the PML(Q)’s candidate for the PM’s office are bargaining very hard—so hard that the King’s party may finally decide to change the candidate rather than succumb to the pressure of the PPP(P) forward bloc. Aitzaz Ahsan of the PPP(P) seemed to be engrossed in something entirely academic. The barrister from Lahore was the first MNA to walk into the assembly library in the morning to study published debates of 1985 assembly concerning the 8th Amendment. Watch out for Aitzaz in these columns. You are going to hear more of him in the coming days.

Just before the House was called to order at about 11.20am by former speaker Illahi Bux Soomro, who was presiding the session on special request, a lot of hugging and back-slapping went on all around. The odd man out in the House on Saturday seemed to be Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari. Not because he had no friends in the new House (in fact a number of his relatives, including two nieces of his have come into the House for the first time), but because he is perhaps the only one among 324 members present in the House on Saturday who had been there all the way up in the Presidency once and tasted its perks, powers and privileges. Normally, those who retire or resign from such high elective offices do not contest for anything less.

In the morning, when at about 9.45am, President Gen Pervez Musharraf was taking oath of his ‘elective office’ I felt as if we were back in time when President Gen Ziaul Haq had left us on August 17, 1988. Gen Musharraf seems to be starting all over again what we thought we had escaped when Gen Zia had died. Once again we have an ‘elected’ president in uniform and a parliament beholden to this president for its very existence. Though he was not in his COAS uniform when he took the oath of office on Saturday, he did identify himself as ‘I, General Pervez Musharraf...’ while repeating the oath along with the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Sheikh Riaz. That is the kind of president Gen Ziaul Haq was and that is the kind of president Gen Musharraf is.

The return of the marriage meal

NOW we know well that the ban on serving meals in wedding ceremonies has been lifted even though the focus of public attention is on the manipulation that has been going on for formation of government in Islamabad, and quite understandably, the hosts of all such marriages that are in the pipeline are planning new strategies, new menus and new budgets.

Budgets! That is where one should begin with. How does this lifting of the five-year-old restriction imposed by a democratic government affect the family budget? What will be the impact of the return of lavish menus and extravagant feasts on the budgets of families. For a moment, go along with the argument that the rich can take care of themselves; they have enough money and contact, put very simply. Even when the ban was on, they managed, as indeed the rich in this society have always done so.

But where does the problem lie? It lies in the majority of those cases where there is an acute economic problem. Where the families do not have the money and where they have to take loans from others and where there are more children to get married. I am reminded here of a Karachi young man who will wed very soon. While the man is saying ‘No,’ his family is arguing that this is the first and the only chance to “give everybody a good meal for a life time”.

Indeed, there are many realistic cultural justifications to have pompous marriage dinners. There are many materialistic reasons to have other wasteful expenditures that take place at weddings, while officially we are trying to fight poverty. There is a national poverty alleviation fund with policies and programmes, but the fight is not only uphill but is also frustrating. The results have not been achieved and there are reasons for anxiety that the number of poor is growing and so are their tears and woes, their miseries and misfortunes. Similar is their anger, resentment and impatience. How does this desire of the rich to serve meals at marriages get with the deprivation of the poor.

The cost of health care facilities has been rising and so is unemployment, crime, violence, insecurity, and where multiple indicators reflect people’s restlessness at the grassroots, how does it harmonise with the demand that the hosts of marriages be allowed to serve their guests with biryani and quorma? Menus that simply put you to shame, menus that reflect moral bankruptcy. Even those who serve the food, the waiters for example, suppress their inner rage as they go about their jobs on these glittering occasions. That’s another story.

The story here is the return of the valima dinner, and officially so, from the look of things to come next month when the wedding season begins, or rather unfolds its dazzling and dramatic dimensions. The serving of food will figure high in the priority with the hosts. Meal after meal, family after family, individual after individual, will overeat in disregard of all rules of healthy eating and living; and factors adding to the attraction will be the weather. Mild winter in Karachi is always an incentive to overeat and elsewhere where the winter has the traditional bite and flavour the justification is always high to serve sumptuous menus.

Of course, there are those who argue that this society does not need these meals; does not warrant this display of waste and vanity. It is arrogance of a kind at times the way some weddings are held in posh areas of the city. Even if it is their own money, look at the impact that it has on the less fortunate and the downtrodden. What happened to the argument that examples should be set at the top, not just in terms of political power but also in terms of community living.

There are those who believe that there should be no checks and balances on these meals, or on any display of wealth and authority, as it is an individual’s right to do what he likes. And a wedding is a justifiable occasion for such an indulgence.

There is the explanation and argument that even when there was the ban it was violated on various pretexts. There was always an alibi to bend the rules. But the counter argument is that “even when there were violations there was some good coming of it”. For those who could not afford to pay for all those expensive menus could settle for the simple cold drink option or a cup of tea or some such deviation.

One is reminded here of late Hakim Mohammad Said and his persistent persuasion and struggle to make people understand that these wedding meals were a waste, as indeed was the bride’s visit to the beauty parlour.

Now while the Supreme Court has lifted the ban, and there is rejoicing amongst the ranks of the haves, the Pakistan Poultry Association has said that “this is a positive development which will leave a healthy effect on the economic and trade activities of the country.” It said that the ban “had led to 40-45 per cent reduction in the consumption of chicken, resulting in the closure of many poultry farms across the country.” That is to say, among the good things that will happen is the return of the poultry farms too!

But that is where one must end here. For a very obvious reason we must conclude with the thought that there will be people, who will find their domestic and family budgets terribly strained for years when they pay for these meals, for greedy guests, who will often be having the same sort of biryani-quorma option night after night! Those will be years of economic squeeze.

And as we conclude we must suggest that it is possibly wiser to have a realistic one-dish menu with laws that are equally practical and enforceable. Someone must think on these lines.

Dr Firdous Awan: an exception among MNAs

Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has no political ambitions. The reason why the MNA, elected on a reserved seat by the PML-Q, joined the political caucus in the National Assembly is to promote her health-care agenda.

“I’m not interested in politics. For me, political achievement is a tool which I want to use to mobilize the government for a better system in health care,” says Dr Firdous Awan.

That says a lot about this 31-year-old, who is a graduate of the Fatima Jinnah Medical College, working at an inhuman pace of 19 hours daily.

“I’m crazy about my work. You’ll find me going from one hospital to another, helping patients needing urgent attention.”

Her target after taking her seat in the lower house of parliament is to start and ante and post-natal care programmes for the mother and child. She does not mince words, neither is she apologetic about the reasons for joining politics.

“No matter how dedicated you are, you need to pull strings in this country. That’s why when I was offered a reserved seat, I instantly said yes because my objectives are clear. I know that political influence is necessary for the kind of medical programme I am working on,” admits Dr Awan.

Getting nominated from the PML-Q’s platform is a sure surprise to people who are familiar with Dr Firdous Awan’s family. Her late father, Malik Ashiq Hussain Awan, was a strong supporter of the PPP. In fact, he was responsible for making Sialkot a powerful constituency of the Pakistan People’s Party. Her brother, Malik Ijaz Husain, a senior executive member of the PPP, was twice given party ticket in the previous two general elections. Not swayed by familial ties, Dr Firdous Awan decided to choose her own independent course, which strengthened her impression of a woman not motivated by politics, but measuring parties by their actions.

“In 1996, the Punjab was badly hit by floods. I had just graduated from the FJ and had also established an organization —- Shade —- which gave free medical aid to people. We were working round-the-clock in the worst-hit areas when Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister at that time, approached me,” explains Dr Firdous Awan.

Dr Awan, who was also the house officer at the Ganga Ram Hospital, and her Shade team were spared all the appropriate assistance to help the flood affected victims. It greatly facilitated her work, at the same time made her realize the importance of political influence. “We worked untiringly for consecutive 36 days.”

She holds a post-graduate diploma, sponsored by the UN, in hospital administration. Besides being president of her self-pioneered, non-governmental organization, she is vice-president of the World Assembly of Youth (WAY), president of the Pakistan Medical Association and vice chairperson of the All Pakistan Youth Federation. It is the first time in the history of WAY, an international co-ordinating body of national youth councils and organizations, established in 1949, to have someone from Pakistan as vice-president.

“I got 87 out of 92 votes in the election held in January 2002. I defeated the Indian secretary-general of the organization to get the position,” claims the doctor.

Dr Awan is one of few women to sit in the assembly with an impressive educational and professional record. She is also among a handful of women whose work shows more than her words.—Shehar Bano Khan