Achakzai proposes Jirga of generals, judges, politicians

Speaker asks govt to write a letter to judiciary expressing house's concern over delay in BB murder case

ISLAMABAD: Raising the spectre of anarchy, the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai has urged the army and the judiciary to stay within their constitutional domains, warning that army chief will be responsible if anything unfortunate happened to the country.

"I ask army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to stop his subordinates from interfering in politics and avoid using 'dummy persons' to run Pakistan.

"Let the [upcoming] general election be free and transparent and manipulate the matters later if you need it," said Achakzai on Thursday in the National Assembly.



He also warned that army chief will be responsible if any unfortunate thing happens to the country. He also called for holding a grand Jirga of judges, generals, politicians and journalists to steer the country out of crisis.

Achakzai said he is not against dispensing of justice but put a question mark over the trials and verdicts against the deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif. He said Sharif, who is facing multiple corruption cases, is being sent to jail and his daughter Maryam Nawaz would take to the streets to protest against it.

'If that happened, I (Achakzai) would support her in her protests," he added.

Criticizing the army chief for the military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) he said: "You did a marvelous job in Fata and the jinn in the tribal belt (in the shape of tribal people's protests led by Manzoor Pashteen) has gone out of control now. What more do you want?"

"You killed thousands of people and did every job which a foreign force may do and what do you expect out of it other than Manzoor Pashteen," Achakzai stated.

He warned that this movement should not be tackled wrongly otherwise it would be extremely distrustful. "We should also stop interfering into the affairs of neighbouring country (Afghanistan) where Germans, British and Japanese also got killed besides the Americans," he said.

He also warned Pakistan to be careful about taking decision on Fata. He said FATA has been in a certain position for a century. "Pakistan is isolated internationally and on the matter of Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel would support the US."

He said acting upon the Constitution is the only way to get out of this situation otherwise anarchy would be the fate of the country. He said this is time to take courageous decisions and every institution should remain in its limit, including the judiciary and the army, and the directives of parliament should be obeyed.

"I propose holding a grand Jirga of judges, generals, politicians and journalists to steer the country out of the current crisis," he added.
BB's assassination

The National Assembly Speaker on Thursday issued a ruling that a letter be written to the judiciary to acquaint it about the concerns of the house on the proceedings of Benazir Bhutto murder case.

Talking to Law Minister Bashir Mehmood Virk, the chair said the house feels that there has already been much delay in the proceedings of the BB's trial and a letter in this context should be written to judiciary. Virk also expressed concerns over the release of the accused in Benazir Bhutto murder case.

Earlier Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah voiced concerns over the release of the accused in BB murder case. "The murder of Benazir Bhutto was a loss not only to the PPP, but to the entire country and the Muslim world," he said.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab said Benazir was a leader of international stature and people want justice done in the case.

Federal budget

Taking part in discussion on federal budget for 2018-19, Qari Muhammad Yousuf said an interest free financial system should be enforced to take forward the country on the path of development.

Shehryar Khan Afridi said that special emphasis should laid on development of Fata in order to address grievances of the tribal people. Describing the budget pro-rich, Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani said minimum wage should be enhanced in view of the price hike.
Jakhrani said his party in not in favour of presenting the sixth budget by the current government because it got no right to do so when its term is about to end by end of this month.

He said the government should have presented the budget for four months. He said former PM is talking about the role of aliens and Finance Minister Miftah Ismail is himself an alien in the house and was chosen to present the budget despite the fact he is unelected person.

"I claim with authority that prime minister would come from the aliens and certainly it would not be Imran Khan as stated," he said.
Captain (retd) Safdar said the present government rid the country of terrorism and power shortages. He warned that any rigging in the next polls will have disastrous consequences for the country.

Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour described ten per cent increase in salaries of the government employees as meager suggesting the government should enhance the salaries by at least twenty per cent. He said Fata should be merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the earliest.

Mian Abdul Manan appreciated budgetary proposals pertaining to reduction in sales tax on fertilizers as well as enhancement in agriculture loans.

Dr Shireen Mazari talked about recent appointments of ambassadors by the current regime in different countries at the juncture when its tenure is about to end.

Dr Nafisa Shah, while participating in the budget debate, said the PML-N has been an anti-labourers party and it offered nothing for them in the budget. She said the government should have bargained with China with regard to China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to get some benefits.

She said tax free imports are being made in this connection, labour would come from China, interest and profit will to go China and this is the reason as why there are no returns of the CPEC so far. "It should be reviewed and Pakistani companies should be awarded level playing field with the Chinese companies."

The session of the National Assembly was adjourned to meet again on Friday at 10:30am.