But the uncertainty as to what the destiny has it for him or her in the draw, slated to take place on Monday, tended to take away some of the cheer from their faces. What added to that uncertainty was the walkout by the opposition as protest against the military action in Balochistan, which is said to have been extended to Bugti area.
However, soon the House was at its usual, with a rather prolonged pandemonium when Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad invited the members to a briefing by the Wapda experts on Kalabagh Dam on Monday.
The opposition simply refused to hear him, but later on when a little calm prevailed opposition's Ilyas Bilore said the offer would be acceptable if the experts other than Wapda's give the briefing. That was the end to even an otherwise stillborn brainchild.
Of late the question hour has begun acquiring significant interest, probably because Chairman Soomro's tight leash by restricting the number of follow-up supplementary questions to three and cutting out speeches in the name of asking questions. Most of the question hour was however taken up by questions on foreign trade.
State minister for commerce Hamid Yar Hiraj was of course quite eloquent in responding to supplementary questions but opposition members like Safder Abbasi and Ilyas Bilore, equipped as they are with credible knowledgeable of the subject under discussion, derailed the minister on a number of times. To the question by Dilwar Abbas as to when Pakistan and India would sign the MFN status agreement, the minister said given the large-numbered negative lists on both sides the MFN status proposition has no real significance.
However, his argument that increased imports went into strengthening of infrastructure was rejected by the members who said bill increased due to import of food items, which have no role in building up the infrastructure.
The Chair also entertained some points of order and breach of privilege motions. The one by Hamidullah Afridi about the lease of a park in Sector F-7 of Islamabad was referred to the committee on interior. But Farhatullah Babar's complaint that the House was given conflicting information about injection of government money to Fauji Jordan Fertiliser which breached the privilege of the House was left hanging as the Chair made no decision on it.
THEN CAME THE BOMBSHELL: Sanaullah Baloch stood up to point out that while the government had denied use of chemical gas during Kohlu operation the fact, he said, is that the gas was used. He presented to the House printouts of a hitherto unknown website depicting three children who apparently fell to a chemical attack. "The pictures are nerve shattering", added the leader of opposition Raza Rabbani, demanding inquiry into the incident by the Senate. State minister for interior Shahzad Wasim refuted the charge of use of gas insisting the website speak of the attempt to divide the nation. He also read out the companion piece that abounds in anti-Punjabiism.
By then the House was well prepared to take the next item - equally blood boiling - the Kalabagh Dam debate. Treasury member Mohammad Akram was the first but his exposition was tame defence of the government position. Maulana Gul Naseeb, the next speaker was quite argumentative and knew what he was saying. Conceding the country needs "big and small dams for agriculture and industry" he underscored the need to remove the plethora of doubts which have come to obtain in the wake of studies conducted by some US-based foreign think-tanks about survival of Pakistan.
This being the backdrop keeping Pakistan united is imperative, but what is happening, he asked. Waziristan is facing a military operation to overcome "artificial" problems; a number of important persons of Karachi have been murdered in the last few years, then there is the Balochistan imbroglio, and now the Kalabagh Dam issue has been raised.
"A number of times intention has been expressed to start work on the dam but then there is silence. It looks that the government is not serious about dams "otherwise, there is consensus on Basha Dam. Why don't you start its construction?" He pleaded for taking the parliament into confidence on the burning issue of Kalabagh Dam.
Treasury member Begum Fauzia Fakharuzzaman, speaking next, was rather simplistic: Since seeking consensus is too cumbersome the work on the Kalabagh Dam should begin immediately. "Had there been an attempt to forge national consensus on Tarbela and Mangla dams we would have been living in darkness by now". Liaquat Bangalzi was, however, sceptical about the government's intentions.
The dam is not being built, he concluded, and if at last it is build it won't last more than two years because "mega commission is involved in mega projects."