'Noor Alam Kept Wailing And Wailing'.

Of late, I have been often missing writing this column. The prime reason for it remains the creeping glaucoma that prevents me from driving after sunset and the National Assembly prefers to meet in the evening.

In spite of this health-driven handicap, the thick skin of mine keeps pushing me to defy the same. Since 1985, I had turned literally an addict to watching and reporting on parliamentary proceedings. Missing them makes me feel disoriented; also brings the pangs of guilt and pain for 'missing the action.'

After sharing my true feelings, I also have to add that the National Assembly, which we have been suffering since April of this year, is no longer the arena of interesting and engaging political sessions. Business there often looks like a badly attempted farce by amateur artists, recklessly disregarding fundamentals of their trade.

How can you ever imagine a 'functional house,' to begin with, from where 120-plus members of the largest party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), had already submitted 'collective resignations?' They don't even transmit the subtle intent of returning and without them parliamentary proceedings continue to look like staging 'Hamlet' without its main character.

Yet by shamelessly employing astonishing audacity, the eleven-party government that had replaced Imran Khan in April, desperately wants us to take the illusion for real that Pakistan remains an 'Islamic Republic' with a vibrant parliament in absolute control. But the reality of imagined 'control' was completely exposed during Wednesday's sitting of the National Assembly. And we should feel extremely grateful to Noor Alam Khan for projecting it.

Noor Alam is a relatively younger parliamentarian from Peshawar. After starting his political career from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), he switched to the PTI to contest the election of 2018. But within some months of spending time there, he gradually began feeling like an alien to PTI's culture and crowd. After many months of burning heart in silence, he finally began to speak up in the house even when Imran Khan had been appearing in complete command and control.

Our political history rarely projects examples where legislators of a ruling party decide to 'rebel' due to some 'principles.' Often, they act like that when feeling jilted or not being appropriately accommodated by a patronising 'Patriarch.' But I failed to find any solid evidence to put Noor Alam in the said category. He essentially is an upright...