Cricket fever sweeps aside Senate agenda

The senators got some work done by unanimously adopting a resolution condemning a suicide attack on a procession in Swabi. — File Photo ISLAMABAD: Cricket mania blew away the Senate proceedings on Wednesday as ministers stayed away from the house, forcing the chair to scrap the day's agenda amid an opposition protest. However, minutes before the house was adjourned until 10.30am on Thursday, the senators got some work done by unanimously adopting a resolution condemning a suicide attack on a procession in Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, just before JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman's arrival there to address a public rally. At the outset, opposition members pointed to mostly empty treasury benches and protested over the absence of the ministers. When Chairman Farooq H. Naek inquired from Leader of the House Nayyar Hossain Bokhari where all the cabinet members were, some opposition senators said all of them had gone to watch Pakistan-India Cricket World Cup semi-final in Mohali. They termed it a joke with parliament and later all of them staged a token walkout to mark their protest. The chairman was left with no option but to defer the question hour when he found that only one member of the cabinet, Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Raza Rabbani, was present in the house. It was after JUI-F member Ghulam Ali broke the news of the suicide attack at Swabi inter-change of the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway that the chair allowed several members from both the opposition and government benches to speak to condemn the incident. The senator said he had just received the news that many people had been killed in the attack but his party chief was safe and sound. Senator Ismail Buledi of the JUI-F accused the government of failing to provide protection to people. Accusing unspecified "institutions" of involvement in terrorism in the country, he said that if an attack were aimed against Maulana Fazlur Rehman today, tomorrow others could be against President Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif. Former minister and JUI-F senator Rehmatullah Kakar called for the formation of a parliamentary body to investigate the incident and demanded that intelligence officials should also be summoned for interrogation. Senator Saleh Shah from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas blamed "intelligence agencies" for the ongoing terror incidents in the country and asked: "Why no officials from intelligence agencies or local administration are punished after such incidents? "These intelligence officials have not landed from heavens and there is a need to keep an eye on intelligence institutions." He said the Swabi incident had proved that there was no connection between terrorism and religion. A pro-PPP independent senator from Balochistan, Humayun Khan Mandokhel, termed the attack part of what he called a conspiracy hatched by foreign elements to eliminate Pakistan's leadership. Pointing fingers at India, he said: "There is a hand in these incidents of a neighbouring country with which we have a (cricket) match." Prof Khurshid Ahmed of Jamaat-i-Islami and Zafar Ali Shah of the Pakistan Muslim League-N called for reviewing the policy on the ongoing war on terrorism which they said had destroyed the peace in the whole region. Zahid Khan of the Awami National Party said terrorists wanted to take the country towards anarchy and wondered how political parties would be able to hold public meetings and how elections would be held in the future, if such attacks continued. Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Raza Rabbani termed the incident a "shameful act" and assured the house that he would personally talk to the interior minister and the provincial chief minister to take swift action. Leader of the house Nayyar Bokhari gave a similar assurance and said a report from the provincial government would be presented in the house. Former minister Azam Swati presented the resolution condemning the attack and urging the government to bring the culprits to justice, with a ruling from the chair that an inquiry report be submitted to the house. Members of the visiting Afghan parliamentary delegation also witnessed the proceedings for some time.