Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday lambasted Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Yousuf Raza Gilani, asking members on the other side of aisle of the upper house not to trust the latter as he was a “compromised” leader.
“He [Gilani] became a senator by buying votes. The PPP even deceived the PML-N when appointing the leader of the opposition,” the minister claimed.
“Senator Dilawar [Khan of the PML-N] has made it clear that the leader of the opposition summoned him and disappeared. The opposition parties should review their leader in the House.”
Gilani was among eight opposition senators who were absent during previous week’s Senate session on Friday. This allowed the PTI government to manage to have the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill passed from the opposition-dominated House.
In a satirical tone, Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry even thanked the PPP and Gilani for ‘supporting’ the bill.
In his speech in the upper house on Monday, Gilani, in a disheartened tone, had said “some turncoats” accused him of helping the government, apparently referring to Fawad and Qureshi as both were members of the PPP in the past.
During Tuesday’s proceedings presided over by Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Qureshi while commenting on the SBP amendment bill said it was one of the responsibilities of the government to make the central bank autonomous.
“The record of the PPP and PML-N testifies that they have been making amendments during their tenure,” he added.
“There was now a need to make the State Bank an independent institution so that governments cannot use it for their own purposes.”
Turning his guns on Gilani, Qureshi said the opposition leader had criticised the Senate chairman on Monday against the rules.
“He [Gilani] tried to clarify his absence but failed to satisfy the nation and segments of the opposition. He already knew that his party had opposed this bill and it would come up in Senate,” he maintained.
“He also had complete information about the IMF [International Monetary Fund] Board meeting. He called Senator Dilawar and independent opposition members, but disappeared from the meeting himself.”
Read PPP's Gillani resigns as Senate opposition leader
Claiming that Gilani had become a senator by buying votes, he recalled that case against him was still pending before the Election Commission of Pakistan.
“A video of his son surfaced in which he can be heard talking about buying votes.”
The minister maintained that the PPP had earlier promised to vote for the PML-N candidate for the leader of the opposition slot and then backed out. “The same thing happened on Friday.”
He said that Gilani’s resignation from the post of leader of the opposition was a sham.
“He [Gilani] will stick to this seat and withdraw his resignation.”
Qureshi further said his advice to the opposition members was that Gilani was a “compromised” person and he could never be trusted.
During the foreign minister’s speech, PPP senators resorted to making a noisy protest.
Earlier, PPP Senator Taj Haider said the government wanted to divide the opposition after the passage of the SBP amendment bill.
“He [Gilani] spent 10 years in jail and sacrificed his post as the prime minister for the sake of democracy,” he added.
Dr Shahzad Waseem, the leader of the House, said the SBP Act had been amended in the past as well.
“The opposition has been thinking of overthrowing [Prime Minister] Imran Khan's government from day one.”
In his speech, Gilani said one thing had already happened and why was it being repeatedly discussed while deviating from the agenda of the meeting.
“It is being said that people are leaving the PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement]. For your information, we are united. There is no rift in the opposition parties,” he added.
Later while talking to the media, Gilani said Qureshi’s speech was tantamount to disrespecting the House and not in accordance with the stature of a foreign minister.
“I will respond to him [Qureshi] inside the House. He will now teach me the rules. When I was the speaker, he was my parliamentary secretary,” he added.
He further said that his party members had allowed Qureshi to carry on with his speech. “If we wanted, we could have got up and left.”
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