PML-N to challenge NAB chief’s appointment

PML-N says criticism of government meant to put it on the right track.

Wary but ambivalent about its future course of action against a “discredited” government, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz on Monday said that all options, including in-house change, were open but at the same time negated its own stance by saying that its criticism was meant to put the government on the right track.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, announced that his party would move the court against the appointment of Justice (Retd) Deedar Hussain Shah as new chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). It’s not clear Chaudhry Nisar  will challenge the appointment in his individual capacity or it will be done from the party’s platform.  “(President) Zardari’s henchmen are interpreting the law at his behest … The apex court has clearly interpreted the term ‘consultation’… but the government is giving it its own meanings. We will move the court at the party level or individual level in a day or two,” he said. Justice Shah’s appointment has further strained the already tense relations between the ruling PPP and the Nawaz-League.

While referring to an earlier judgment of the court and the amended NAB law, Chaudhry Nisar said that under rules, consultation with the leader of opposition was mandatory before finalising the name for a new chief of NAB which he said was not done in the present case.

He vowed that his party would give tough time to the government on the changes it has made in the NAB law through a presidential ordinance. “We will put up stiff resistance against the new NAB ordinance inside and outside the parliament. We will challenge it in the court, if needed,” he added.

Chaudhry Nisar claimed that discredited due to its incompetence and rampant corruption the Zardari government wanted that if removed, it may be ousted from power through some undemocratic way, so that they can once again become “political martyrs”.

Responding to a question, Khan said all options — including in-house change, change of leadership (Leader of the House), midterm elections and impeachment of the president — were open but added that none of them was apparently on the cards. “Our prime objective is to bring the government on the right track. The situation can defuse if they follow the right track,” he said indicating that no clear line of action his party has chalked out so far.

Asked about the authenticity of graft cases against Zardari, Khan said most of these cases were framed by the interim government of Farooq Leghari. However, he added that if these cases lacked evidence, then why Zardari had been sending medical certificates about his mental health problems and heart condition to avoid court proceedings in Switzerland.

When quizzed why the PML-N did not challenge Zardari’s candidature as president on the basis of these alleged mental health certificates he said, “You can say it was a mistake on our part”.

Criticising the government for what he called bulldozing the newly passed law in the National Assembly for the reinstatement of employees sacked during the PML-N regime, he said of the 250,000 people employed during the two terms of the PPP government in the 1990s over 9,000 were given employment in violation of all rules and regulations. Many of them, he said, could not pass the entry tests or were not qualified for the job.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12th, 2010.