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| 13 April 2004 | Tuesday | 22 Safar 1425 |
Opposition senators call it cruel and vindictive
ISLAMABAD, April 12: Opposition parties in the Senate on Monday condemned ARD acting president Javed Hashmi's conviction in a sedition case after a jail trial that they called cruel and vindictive, and staged a walkout.
Parliamentary group leaders of the opposition parties grouped in the Democratic Front as well as the MMA voiced their protest at the start of the upper house's evening session after chairman Mohammedmian Soomro allowed them to speak on points of order.
PPP parliamentary party leader Raza Rabbani led the token walkout after the speeches and was joined by the MMA. Despite an invitation from the chair, the leader of the house, Wasim Sajjad, declined to reply to the opposition charges, saying he would not comment on the judgment while it could be challenged in higher courts.
Former law minister Khalid Ranjah of the ruling PML-Q questioned the members' right to speak about a court judgment and asked the chair whether "we have changed (house) rules" to allow such a debate while the ruling was appealable.
Mr Rabbani rejected what he called "such more loyal than the king" approach and justified the debate on what he called one of the "darkest days in Pakistan's history".
He accused the government of using double-standards by trying Mr Hashmi for sedition because he was a civilian, violating 'immunity' enjoyed by parliamentarians for their observations inside the parliament and using 'state terrorism' against political opponents.
He said the government had tried to make Mr Hashmi an example for others but added that it would not succeed in keeping opposition from its struggle for democracy.
"It is a very sad day, it is a day of mourning," PML-N parliamentary group leader and former finance minister Ishaq Dar said. He accused the government of pursuing vendetta against its opponents rather than the needed national reconciliation.
But he said the process was "not going to end here" as he hoped higher courts would do justice. MMA leader Prof Khurshid Ahmed said what had happened could not be called justice in any way. "This is zulm," he said.
"The whole county is in sorrow...we have blackened our face before the world," he said as he expressed the hope that justice would be done by higher courts. "We should try to end this zulm."
Sanaullah Baloch of the BNM (Mengal) said politicians felt insecure while there was a lot of talk in the country about security. If politicians are targeted like this "then there will be no difference between Pakistan and (military-ruled) Burma," he said.
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