Musharraf’s departure: Nisar slammed for ‘misleading house’

42 MPs move privilege motion against interior minister

ISLAMABAD:

The opposition moved a privilege motion against Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on Tuesday for “misleading” the joint parliament session on Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s departure.

The security czar while defending the government’s decision to allow the former president to leave the country had cited the Supreme Court’s recent verdict as the reason behind removing his name from the no-fly list.



Opposition members moved the resolution, saying the interior minister “misled and misinformed” both the upper and lower houses and action should be taken against him for breaching the privilege of the joint sitting.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, who is the opposition leader in Senate, proposed the resolution, which was signed by 42 opposition lawmakers.

The privilege motion stated the apex court in its order did not prevent the government from taking action against Musharraf and left the decision on the government’s discretion.

The opposition lawmakers included in the resolution the Supreme Court’s March 16 orders: “This court will not preclude the federation of Pakistan or special court seized with the proceeding under Article 6 against Musharraf from passing any legal order for regulating his custody or restricting his movement.”

The resolution accused the interior minister of attempting to mislead and misinform both the houses by holding back the court’s directions. This amounted to breach of privilege as per rules and action should be taken against Nisar.



However, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq held he did not receive the resolution and could not accept it without going through its contents in his chamber.

On the first day of the joint sitting, Aitzaz had insisted Nisar read out the Supreme Court’s verdict in Musharraf case before the lawmakers. The PPP leader even went to the interior minister’s seat and requested him to read it out.

Nisar did not accept the challenge but assured the house he would brief the session on each and every word on Musharraf’s departure later.

Musharraf flew to Dubai on March 18 after the government removed his name from the no-fly list.

Opposition Leader in NA Khursheed Shah told The Express Tribune the privilege motion would be submitted to the assembly secretariat.



Nisar hits back at critics

Reacting to the opposition’s criticism, Nisar accused Senator Aitzaz of trying to divert the attention of the masses from their poor performance as legislators.

“Had Aitzaz and company been sincere in their pleas regarding Musharraf’s departure, they would have raised the issue on the assembly’s floor,” he said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

“Where were Aitzaz and his associates when their leaders were cutting deals with Musharraf under the NRO?” Nisar asked.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2016.