Opposition boycott: Senators ask Nisar to tender apology

Demand that the interior minister say sorry for misleading the house, and for his ‘insulting’ behaviour.

ISLAMABAD:

Boycotting Senate proceedings consecutively on the second day, opposition parties on Thursday sought an apology from Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar for misleading the house and providing wrong figures about the victims of terrorism.

They also termed the behaviour of the interior minister towards the opposition members ‘insulting’.

The joint opposition – sans Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) – led by the Opposition Leader in Senate Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan first boycotted the house proceedings. Later, he too addressed a press conference and said the opposition would end its boycott of the ongoing session only if the interior minister tendered an apology.

Aitzaz – flanked by the leaders of Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A) – along with the National Assembly Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah jointly announced to move a privilege motion in the house regarding interior minister for feeding wrong information.



“We will not let the government run away from the house to avoid criticism from the opposition on various issues, which were on the agenda of discussion,” he said, adding that it was the tactic of the government to compel the opposition to boycott the proceedings.

“Our only demand is an apology from the minister and if the government prorogues the house then we will requisite the session again with a new agenda,” Aitzaz stated.

He also brushed aside the notion that opposition was giving walkover to the government by walking out from the Senate.

About MQM’s absence from the opposition’s boycott, Aitzaz quipped that the party could not afford to go against any Interior Ministry, neither federal nor provincial.

The PPP Parliamentary Leader in the Senate, Raza Rabbani, lambasted the interior minister for what he said were his attempts to make the parliament and executive hostage.

Raza said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had a track record of making the parliament defunct and irrelevant. “Recently promulgated Ordinances are examples, as they have been promulgated while both the houses are very much present and functional,” he added.

He said the government also refrained from discussing national security policy, the conditions of IMF and the privatisation of key strategic assets. He demanded that all these vital issues should be brought before the parliament.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2013.