Pakistan

PML-N stages walkout against NAB ordinance

Opposition leader blames government of “shying away” from coming clean on important national issues.

Zia Khan October 05, 2010

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday walked out of the National Assembly to protest the promulgation of an ordinance by President Asif Ali Zardari that transfers the powers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chief to the law minister.

Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan led the protesting lawmakers and sought an explanation from the government on why this ordinance was issued so secretly “in the middle of the night”. Before leaving the house, Khan blamed the government of “shying away” from coming clean on important national issues. “Why did the president issue an ordinance in such a way that even the prime minister was not aware of it?” Khan questioned, referring to a speech by Prime Minister Gilani in the National Assembly on Friday in which he expressed ignorance about the move. But the ordinance was tabled in the Senate just minutes later.

The issuance of the ordinance drew an angry reaction from not only opposition parties but also from some of the top leaders of the governing Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Khan also called it a “blunt violation of rules” that the ordinance was never presented to the federal cabinet for approval before it was promulgated.

In his speech, Khan said that it was encouraging that the government had reacted to Nato strikes inside Pakistan but called for stepping up the protest until international forces stationed in Afghanistan tendered an apology. “I will suggest that we step up our protest … we have been taken for a ride these past eight years,” Khan told the house.

Earlier, a member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) pointed out that Nato forces had actually increased drone attacks after Prime Minister Gilani had threatened them with “other options”.

PML-Q parliamentary leader Faisal Saleh Hayat also urged the government to share with the house the details of Central Intelligence Agency chief Leon Panetta’s recent visit to Islamabad and his interaction with the country’s political and military leadership. He also called for sharing what had transpired in a meeting among the president, the prime minister and the military chief, which was held last week. He quoted a report in an international newspaper and asked the administration to explain whether the military chief had actually demanded that some ‘corrupt’ ministers be fired from the cabinet.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (1)

Ahmer Ali | 13 years ago | Reply Assalam-o-Allaiklum Warahmatullah.This is not first time the present government is displaying effrontery on the burning national issues even it has been happening since our present leaders came into power and very surprisingly the major opposition party PML (N) is showing only protests and walk outs from the National Assembly and behind the scene all opposition parties are the main part or passing the resolutions in National Assembly and Parliament to run the present corrupt democracy under the shadow the corrupt and NRO certified leadership and the most importantly walk outs have been the most favorite hobby for the opposition parties from the National and Provincial Assemblies instead of facing the challenges created by the present leaders in the form of problems and difficulties for the whole nation in the form of expensiveness,poverty, hunger and unemployment especially when immunity and exemption of President Zardari's issue is discussed and this is all happening just due to the disunity of opposition parties.If they are reunited all the burning and core issues including current clashes between police and judiciary could be resolved very easily on the top priority basis.In other words this opposition parties' apparent face is hypocritical before the nation who elected them in the elections to curtail their problems and difficulties but the now the facts have been changed and the problems and difficulties of the nation are increasing day by day instead of decreasing.

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