Talking politics: Drone strikes, Kashmir are real issues, not energy crisis: Babar Awan

Claims the previous govt brought generals to answer before Parliament.


Umer Farooq June 04, 2013
Awan said those who had been vocal against drone attacks had now been given the mandate to stop them. PHOTO: AFP/ FILE

PESHAWAR:


Former federal law minister Dr Babar Awan said drone attacks and the Kashmir issue were the country’s real problems as opposed to the energy and economic crisis.


Talking to journalists at the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday, Awan said those who had been vocal against drone attacks had now been given the mandate to stop them.

“Those who have been given the mandate to form the government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Islamabad should not give excuses. They should stop them (drone attacks).” Awan added the strikes violate the United Nations charter.

Commenting on drone strikes during the last five years, he said, “We brought generals before Parliament who were questioned for the first time in the country’s history.” The attacks were condemned and a resolution was passed against them, he added.

Awan said the previous opposition was friendly and claimed the new opposition would prove to be the same.



Earlier, he appeared before a PHC division bench headed by Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Roohul Amin requesting a case filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against his client, Alauddin, be quashed. Alauddin is a former employee of the provincial public health engineering department, who NAB suspected had assets beyond what his sources of income could afford.

Awan said since the Supreme Court had declared the appointment of Admiral (retd) Fasih Bukhari as chairman of the NAB null and void, the reference Bukhari filed against his client did not mean anything anymore. Deputy Prosecutor General Muhammad Jamil Khan, however, requested the court for additional time, which was granted. The hearing was later adjourned for 15 days.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2013.

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