PM insists ‘no martial law, no caretaker set-up’

Nisar continues to rail against Memogate, National Reconciliation Ordinance.

ISLAMABAD:

It was apparent during the National Assembly session on Monday that President Asif Ali Zardari’s return to Pakistan had done little to assuage fears in parliament. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, for his part, said: “I assure this house that there will be no martial law, no caretaker setup and no technocrats,” while urging the MPs “not to provide any opportunity that could derail democracy.”

The premier’s statement came in response to leader of the opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s commitment that his party would never support any ‘undemocratic force’.

“I can give you in writing that we will be with you if there were any threat to democracy and parliament,” Nisar vowed during his speech when both the archrivals – PML-N and PPP clashed, inevitably, over the Memogate.

Nisar questions Memogate contradictions

Try as it might, the government has been unable to downplay the memo scandal as much as it has wanted to. The session started with a discussion over gas load shedding for domestic users in Rawalpindi, but the proceedings of the house drifted towards the memo controversy as Nisar pointed out the absence of Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain from the session, saying he could accompany the president but seemed unconcerned about the issues of the people.

“The government has become so fragile that the prime minister held a meeting with the chief of army staff (COAS), which was covered by the media to prove things were under control,” he said.

“Pakistan is not a banana republic or a security state that the PM needs a meeting with the COAS to regain confidence. The government should gain   confidence from Parliament,” he added. “The matter is in the Supreme Court, the army is saying the memo is a reality but the prime minister says whatever James Jones has said is true,” Nisar said while demanding an explanation from the PM.

Getting personal

The opposition leader also responded to PPP Information Secretary Secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira’s speech at the previous session.

Nisar said that being in the opposition, it was his right to hold the government accountable. He said Nawaz Sharif was not the only leader who left the country while asking “who had fled in 1981, 1999 and 2003?”

He added: “Whenever we question the performance of the government, elegies of sacrifices are told… we are not interested in these stories since we know who was behind the long march of 1993 and who struck a deal through National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)”. Kaira stood up to respond but Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali intervened and asked Kaira to let it go.

Religious Affairs Minister Syed Khursheed Shah, on the other hand, responded to the opposition leader and said “Judges were used in the past through such issues and everyone is well aware of what Sajjad Ali Shah (former chief justice of Pakistan) had done and your party had shown the real reaction,” Shah added – referring to the government-judiciary clash during Nawaz’s tenure as prime minister.

Javed Hasmi lashes out

Meanwhile, PML-N leader Javed Hashmi had other things on his mind, and furiously demanded an apology from the PM himself for assertions made during the previous session that Hashmi had received 30,000 pounds as assistance from the government for medical treatment. “You have to apologise. If not here, then I will make you apologise in Multan,” Hashmi said angrily, adding that he had refused such assistance. Gilani responded calmly, saying “I will hold an inquiry and will apologise if your claim is true”.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2011.