Condemning Chaudhry Nisar’s petition: K-P lawmakers support NAB chief

Resolution accuses National Assembly opposition leader of damaging inter-provincial harmony.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday passed a resolution condemning Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s petition to the Supreme Court against the appointment of Justice (retd) Syed Deedar Hussein Shah as chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The Supreme Court, ruling on the National Assembly opposition leader’s petition, declared Shah’s appointment illegal on March 10.

The resolution, moved by Pakistan Peoples Party parliamentary leader Abdul Akbar Khan and Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party, accused Chaudhry Nisar of having a “discriminatory attitude [that] is damaging inter-provincial harmony and is a threat to the democratic process”.

The resolution also paid tribute to Shah for his services as chief justice of the Sindh High Court and as a judge of the Supreme Court. “It is evident that even PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has endorsed the integrity of Syed Deedar Hussain Shah,” it said.

The opposition created a ruckus in the assembly in a bid to block the resolution and then walked out in protest when Speaker Karamtullah Khan Chagarmati told them to sit down. Two of the opposition members, Nighat Orakzai and Dr Iqbal Din Fana, did not join the walkout. Orakzai, who is with the PML-Q, opposed the resolution but the rest of the house approved it.

Opposition leader and former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani warned that the resolution would start a war between institutions. “Any confrontation between the judiciary and executive is not in the interest of this country as the nation needs unity at this moment,” he said.

Drones and Davis

The opposition members also condemned Thursday’s drone strike in North Waziristan that killed at least 40 people and the move to release CIA contractor Raymond Davis, describing both as harmful to national security. Durrani said that the drone strike on a jirga was unprecedented, as a jirga had never been attacked before. He condemned the provincial and federal governments and said that they were following similar policies.

He said Raymond Davis had killed Pakistanis and the nation’s honour had been sold for just Rs200 million. He said that the Punjab government was complicit in his release.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2011.