In a twenty two minute fiery speech in the National Assembly (Parliament’s lower house) of Pakistan, Comrade Manzoor, MNA and president of the PTUDC, exposed the regime’s utter failure to come up to the challenge posed by the earthquake which has ravaged Pakistan and devastated millions of poor.
He elaborated on the class aspects of this calamity highlighting the fact that the poor and the oppressed have been the main victims. He narrated the agony and distress of those college girls who had been trapped in the rubble of the Girls’ College in Bagh. They had been crying for help for more than three days and nobody was there to save them. In the end they died. Even the members on the treasury benches were in tears after his speech. He spoke about all the aspects and different dimensions of this disaster and the rescue and relief effort.
The complete text of his speech, which is recorded, will be displayed on this website as soon as we get the tapes from the secretary of the National Assembly. His arguments were mainly based on Lal Khan’s article, Kashmir in the aftermath of the earthquake, already published on this website.
Most of the parliamentarians came up to his seat to congratulate him for his daring and compelling speech.