K-P assembly supports reopening of ZAB ‘murder’ case

Opposition walks out, says the move will result in a clash between institutions.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) assembly passed a resolution supporting the reopening of the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case here on Friday.

However, the opposition staged a walkout from the house and the resolution was adopted unanimously in its absence.

When the assembly session started here on Friday, Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentary leader and K-P senior minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) parliamentary leader Abdul Akbar Khan presented a resolution supporting the reference in the Supreme Court regarding the reopening of the Bhutto case.

The opposition opposed the resolution saying that it would result in a clash between institutions.

Prior to this, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) parliamentary leader and former K-P chief minister Pir Sabir Shah said that simply reopening the Bhutto case would not yield a resolution, and that all issues must be explored in depth. Shah said that people who were involved in the issue in some capacity should also be unmasked.

Referring to the late ANP chief Abdul Wali Khan, he said that during that time some political leaders had implied to Ziaul Haq that there was one grave out there and two heads and it would either be him or Bhutto who would go into that grave.

However, the ANP parliamentary leader Bashir Ahmed Bilour and other members protested against this statement which led to allegations and counter allegations between the PML-N and ANP members.

Later, Pir Sabir Shah expressed his regret to the ANP members for what he said on the intervention of speaker Kiramatullah Khan Chagarmati. After this the resolution supporting the reopening of the Bhutto case was moved which the assembly adopted unanimously in the absence of the opposition. The assembly session was adjourned till Monday.

HEC issue

Meanwhile, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government rejected the vice chancellors’ opposition to devolve the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and transfer its powers to the provinces.

K-P Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters following the assembly session that those protesting were violating the constitution.

He said that the HEC powers have been devolved to the provinces under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, but some people were trying to make an issue out of it. He said that after this amendment no one could stop the devolution of powers to the provinces.

He said that the chief minister has called a meeting of all public sector universities’ vice chancellors on Saturday (today) hoping the issue will be settled.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2011.