‘Controversial’ talk: PTI plans to grill Asif in NA

To bring adjournment motion seeking explanation from the foreign minister over his remarks during his US tour

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will soon table an adjournment motion in the National Assembly aimed at seeking an explanation from Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif for making “extremely controversial remarks” during his US tour.

PTI MNA Murad Saeed will move the motion under Rule 109 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly.

Speaking at the Asia Society Forum in New York, Khawaja Asif had said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif paid the political price for his peace efforts with India.



Terming the Haqqani network and Jamat-ud-Dawa’s Hafiz Saeed as liabilities for Pakistan, he urged the US to give Pakistan some time to get rid of them.

The draft of the motion to be tabled by the PTI states: “The routine business of the House should be adjourned to make the minister explain (why) he took a position contrary to the national policy dealing with terrorism.”

The motion also seeks explanation from the minister on why he had mentioned different causes for Sharif’s disqualification than what the court had written down in its judgment.



“Why his remarks on Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification should not be taken as the product of a well-thought-out scheme of causing irreparable damage to critical state institutions (such as) the judiciary,” the motion stated.

It also wants the foreign minister to explain why Asif did not apprise parliament of his knowledge of the so-called conspiracy, or for that matter, conspirators who had been involved in conspiring against the former prime minister.

The motion also asks the foreign minister “to explain what … he (hoped) to achieve by making such an irresponsible statement before an audience who is abhorrently critical to Pakistan and her institutions”.