Aitzaz Ahsan came out with a scintillating performance, dazzling the upper house with compelling logic and poetical turns of speech, quoting from Ghalib with abandon. He mixed his phrases in his winding-up address on the freedom of the press, in the context of the Jang Group vs government controversy, with biting sarcasm. In an hour-long speech in defence of the press, he posed 21 questions to the treasury benches about prime minister Nawaz Sharif and senator Saifur Rehman through his visible target Mushahid Hussain, the information minister. The minister took copious notes. At times, senator Khawaja Qutubuddin was seen passing on chits to Mushahid, obviously containing pertinent points for rebuttal.

In pin drop silence, Aitzaz led his senate colleagues with quotes from the nomination documents of Nawaz Sharif about his assets submitted to the Election Commission at the last polls. All of Aitzaz's disclosures about the PM and the Ehtesab Chief were based on the material drawn from official documents.

One of the questions posed by senator Aitzaz to Mushahid was if it were not correct that after the publication of all the news reports about money laundering by Nawaz and the purchase of flats by him in London, the 'tax-defaulting Prime Minister's 'tax-defaulting Ehtesab Chief' had initiated proceedings against the Jang Group of Newspapers. Another question raised by the opposition leader was if the entire proceedings set in motion by the government against a particular newspaper group was based on good intentions. He put nine questions directed at the Prime Minister and ten at the Ehtesab Chief.

The first three put to the PM were: "Is it not correct that the PM has paid, from 1994 to 1997 a total income tax of Rs 477 only?"

"Is it not correct that in the years 1994-95 and 1996-97, the Prime Minister of Pakistan had paid zero income tax?" "Is it not correct that for these years, the rate of income tax was 55 per cent while the rate of wealth tax was merely 2.5 per cent?" To make his case convincing against the prime minister, Aitzaz read out the list of Mian sahib's property, including various mills in Punjab, and also the list of property owned by Begum Kulsum Nawaz and their children. He wondered how was it that the man who could not run his industries profitably, could administer a country effectively. He challenged Mushahid to bring to book citizen Nawaz Sharif, a defaulter of taxes, just as he wanted to do with Shakilur Rehman on that account.

As Aitzaz Ahsan was waxing eloquent on the income tax default by the PM and Saifur Rehman, he overheard a remark made by a PML back-bencher, the irrepressible Khawaja Qutubuddin. The ever watchful Aitzaz turned back to his treasury friend with a sarcastic remark, "the tall is wagging the dog." The house burst into laughter and Khawaja Sahib himself enjoyed the dig at his own expense.

Earlier, Aitzaz called Mian Nawaz Sharif the originator of envelope journalism. He lashed out at the Prime Minister for betraying all his benefactors, from Ziaul Haq to Ghulam Ishaq Khan to Farooq Leghari and, then, discarding of his allies like the MQM and the ANP. Now he was doing the same with the press which had stood by him during his days in the opposition, he said.

The next target chosen by Aitzaz was the Ehtesab Chief, Sen Saifur Rehman, whom he charged with not paying a single penny as income tax. He said senator Saif had himself admitted that he had made a call.

To the credit of Mushahid he reiterated his government's consistent commitment to the freedom of expression. No individual would be allowed to be above the law of the land, he said. However, he dilated on the exploitation of workers by the group. At the end of this debate, the law minister laid before the house nine ordinances.

For a pleasant challenge, during the question hour in the senate, law minister Khalid Anwar handled all questions not related to his ministry.
Earlier in the day, parliament was in commotion on the freedom of the press issue, as both houses were seized with the matter. All eyes were riveted on the senate, however, after a brief walkout from the upper house, the newsmen returned to listen to Mushahid's speech.

Before the national assembly was prorogued, PML MNA Ejaz Shafi moved a resolution calling for shifting the Prime Minister's secretariat back to the building vacated by Mian Nawaz Sharif. The Opposition insisted on a debate on the resolution. The speaker, giving his ruling on the resolution, said it was the property of the house and would be taken up for discussion in the next session.

(Dawn 29.1.1999)

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