Basharat tells PML-N not to “use” production orders

Says they cannot be a tactic to simply provide relief

LAHORE: Provincial law minister Raja Basharat has said it is not appropriate to use “production orders” merely to provide relief to jailed individuals. He asserted that PA Speaker Chaudhary Pervez Elahi was playing an impartial role when it came to issuing such orders.

Basharat made these remarks in response to an application submitted by PML-N which sought the production orders of Opposition leader Hamza Shehbaz Sharif so that he could attend the assembly session scheduled for July 15.

PML-N’s former minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman and sitting MPAs, including Waris Shad, approached the assembly secretariat where they submitted the application. Basharat said the production orders would only be issued for those members who genuinely needed to be present on the assembly floor. “The use of production orders should not be a matter of routine for their personal gains,” he added.

He said the opposition’s demand of nominating Hamza Shehbaz Sharif as member of PAC-II was a joke. The law minister said that the committee dealt with all the works that were carried by Hamza’s father Shehbaz Sharif during the latter’s tenure as chief minister. He said the works of the former CM spanned over 10 years and asked how it would be possible for Hamza to be part of a committee that was looking into the same initiatives.

He said the opposition had intentions of achieving something meaningful and simply wanted a safe way under which the production order could be issued. The law minister added that the opposition’s demands to issue a production order for Hamza and the move to nominate him as member of the PAC-II are not correct.

He said Speaker Chaudhary Pervez Elahi is playing an impartial role over the issuance of production orders. He also reiterated that former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif was in jail owing to past cases. He added that PTI had nothing to do with the opening or reopening of any such cases.

He said the government and opposition had reached to a consensus that the chairmanship of PAC would be given to the opposition. “The government will keep its promise made with the opposition over the PAC’s adjustment,” said Basharat. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2019.