Politics, politician and corruption go hand in hand. Maybe, majority of the politicians are corrupt but some ‘unlucky ones’ are identified and most of them are never caught due to the covert nature of corruption. But in any case, it is exclusively for the politicians to decide as to when and how to speak against the corruption. Personal interests, friendship and political manoeuvring establish the course of action for the politicians and ethics, morality, national obligations and country’s interest remain of second priority when it comes to fight the menace of corruption.
Hectic behind-the-scene efforts undertaken by the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain yielded positive results when the government and even some of the opposition parties seemed obliged during the requisitioned National Assembly and Senate sessions for not pressing for debate on the agenda items mentioned in the requisitions, particularly the non-implementation of Supreme Court orders by the executive. Debate on the non-implementation by executive on Supreme Court orders meant post-mortem of the NICL scam which involves former chief minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s son, Moonis Elahi.
It was Shujaat, who, according to some political sources, rushed to the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) top leadership, after the opposition parties put non-implementation by executive on judiciary’s orders, on agenda of the requisitioned sessions of both the houses, to request them not to line up with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) at the time of the debate on the specific agenda item in the parliament. Hours before the start of requisitioned sessions of both the houses, the PML-Q chief again rushed to the leadership of the covert allies to confirm their support on the issue.
The sources said that the two opposition parties; JUI-F and MQM, promised with the PML-Q chief not to cause debate on the particular issue in the parliament. “Both the JUI-F and MQM had assured Shujaat that their members would not raise the issue in both the houses,” a source said. The attitude of the members of the two parties also proved the understanding as none of the senators from JUI-F and MQM specifically pressed for debate on the non-implementation of SC orders by the executive. Perceiving the back-door commitments and assurances amongst the opposition parties on the very issue, Senator Zahid Khan also went blunt in saying on the floor of the house that the agenda items mentioned in the requisitions submitted by the opposition parties were a formality and the movers did not want to debate the issues.
Interestingly, a keen and worried Shujaat opted for attending the visitors’ gallery of the National Assembly instead of sitting in the senate hall during the upper house session, just to watch how the MNAs from the ‘ally’ parties behave on the debate on the non-implementation on SC orders.
On the other hand, Leader of the house in senate, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari also succeeded in blocking the move for debate on the issue while citing legal and constitutional hitches in this regard. This is how the politicians overtly condemn corruption while covertly support it. May be the politicians fear that if they support steps to widen the anti-corruption net, they may also fall in it.
The seriousness of the opposition parties on the issue also remained pathetic during the requisitioned sessions as they could not maintain quorum. It was Senator Faisal Raza Abidi of the PPP who pointed out the senate quorum towards the last moments of the session to finally kill the possibility of a debate on the issue.
