NA Speaker abused her position, says Nisar

Leader of opposition says Mirza has become part of a group bent upon disobe­ying SC’s verdic­t against Gilani.


Ferya Ilyas May 24, 2012
NA Speaker abused her position, says Nisar

ISLAMABAD: "Sadly, Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza has become a part of the group which is bent upon disobeying Supreme Court’s verdict against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani," Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan lashed out on Thursday.

“We think that the NA Speaker has used her position wrongly and has not done justice,” he said, referring to Mirza’s decision on prime minister’s disqualification.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Nisar maintained that Gilani was convicted by a bench of the highest court in the country, and thus stood disqualified.

“On one hand, seven judges have convicted Gilani of contempt of court while on the other hand, the NA Speaker says there is no question of disqualification,” he said, referring to a clause of the Constitution which says any sitting member of the house is disqualified if they are convicted by a court. This has been the major crux of the Opposition's argument.

Gilani, meanwhile points towards the rule where the speaker of the national assembly decides whether his conviction amounts to disqualification from the house.

Nisar further said that as per the law, the case should be sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

“The ECP officials are neutral and the case should be reviewed by them,” Nisar stated.

Calling Mirza’s decision weak, Nisar said that the case of Makhdoom Javed Hashmi cited by her was irrelevant.

“Javed Hashmi was convicted by a lower court, whereas Gilani was convicted by the highest court,” Nisar said.

Nisar further added that the NA Speaker failed to provide solid examples to support her decision from Pakistan or any country around the world.

Chief Election Commissioner nominees

The Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly also announced the names of three Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) nominees selected by him.

The nominees include acting CEC Justice Shakirullah Jan, Justice (r) Fakhruddin Ibrahim and Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid.

Pointing out that the nominees are only from Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Nisar said he did not choose any from Punjab because then people would have accused him of favouritism.

COMMENTS (25)

Khazeema | 12 years ago | Reply

What is intriguing is why Nawaz Sharif has abandoned his policy of restraint vis-à-vis the PPP-led government, a restraint informed by the bitter experience of the military taking advantage of the politicians’ falling out to intervene and pack up the democratic system altogether. The restraint shown by Nawaz Sharif over the past four years may have earned him the sarcastic jibe of acting like a ‘friendly’ opposition, but it now appears he has allowed himself to be persuaded by the hawks in his party (led by Chaudhry Nisar and backed up by younger brother Shahbaz Sharif) to go all out against the government. The timing of the change is also intriguing, given that the country is in the run up to general elections. The opportunity for the turn has been presented by the contempt conviction of the prime minister by the Supreme Court but the PML-N has displayed its impatience with the legal and political process to be gone through before the verdict can take effect. Nevertheless, the argument that a street agitation may destabilise democracy, if not provide once again an opportunity to anti-democratic forces to wrap up the system per se has not lost its validity, historically or at the present conjuncture.

Javed | 12 years ago | Reply

Mr. Nisar Please let the democracy flourish in the Pakistan. We the common people & political workers of all parties have not forgotten the horrible role of the judiciary in the past to derail the civil governments. Madam speaker also has a constitutional authorty to take a right decision in favor of democracy. As leader of Opposition in a democratic setup expecting from you also a positive role to strengthen the democracy.

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