August 11, 2007	Saturday	Rajab 26, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Aug 10: The combined opposition in the Senate on Friday asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his cabinet to step down for “bringing the economy to a halt for four and a half months” by filing a reference against the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

The upper house took the lead in discussing the judicial crisis as the National Assembly did not take up the issue.

The house — which was to hold debate on foreign policy with reference to the statements of US presidential hopefuls, Indo-US nuclear treaty and US threats of military intervention in Pakistan — ended its proceedings by raising points of order from both sides of the divide.

Taking floor on a point of order, Latif Khan Khosa of the PPP said: “The country plunged into a deep crisis and judicial work came to a standstill and the economic activity saw a grinding halt.” This, he said, happened due to the ill-timed, ill-advised and ill-conceived presidential reference which was thrown out by the Supreme Court as illegal.

Mr Khosa said the heads of intelligence agencies who had filed affidavits, which were rejected by the SC full bench, should also be made accountable and the nation must be informed as to what action was taken against them.

He demanded of the house to take serious notice of this misadventure during which many people were killed in Karachi, several lawyers were injured and the media was gagged. He asked the president to step down along with his government to pave way for setting up of a neutral government which would hold elections for a democratic transition of power.

Leader of the opposition Mian Raza Rabbani said: “Those who had captured power on the promise of giving the country good governance have faltered on a number of issues including military operations in Balochistan and Fata killing Nawab Bugti and hundreds of others while they took worst step of assaulting the highest office of judiciary”.

Mr. Rabbani, who latter led an en bloc walkout, regretted that no judicial inquiry was ordered into the May 12 Karachi carnage nor any heads rolled by holding anyone responsible for the whole episode.

On a point of order, parliamentary leader of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) Prof. Khurshid Ahmed raised the issue of what he described military attack on Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa and termed it darkest moments of country’s history.

He called for a fully-fledged debate on the issue and fixing responsibility for the large-scale killings.

Dr. Khalid Soomro of the MMA raised a point against what he termed the planned removal of old Sindhis from Karachi by land mafia in connivance with terrorists and extortionists and said 5,000 houses were demolished in seven old localities recently.

Asif Jatoi of the PML pointed out that the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) has sent a letter to him in which it has demanded incentives to save the textile industry from total collapse. He also drew attention towards hardships of the people of interior of Sindh and Karachi who brave electricity outages for 12 to 16 hours daily.

Tahir Mashhadi of the MQM expressed concern over government’s decision to increase electricity tariff for Karachi consumers.

Chairman Muhammadmian Soomro said since there was no house committee on textiles, he himself would take up the Aptma issue with the competent authorities. The house was informed that as many as 12 house committees still need to be set up.

Raza Muhammad Raza Khan of the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party and Kamran Murtaza of the PPP, through separate point of orders, protested what they alleged government’s involvement in the abduction of Baloch people as a result of which thousands had gone missing.

Rehmatullah Kakar told the house that the Customs intelligence officials of Karachi had extorted Rs70,000 and a dinner from his children on a flimsy ground that they were riding a Pajero with a suspect number.

He alleged that the Customs officials intercepted the jeep and took it to a police laboratory where they asked his children to pay Rs300,000 or face punishment as according to them the chassis number of the vehicle had been tampered with.

Chairman Soomro took serious notice of the episode and referred the matter to the finance committee of the house.

Earlier, the house condoled through unanimous resolutions the deaths of former senator Sheikh Rafiq of the PPP and Muhammad Zaman Achakzai from Balochistan.

The house also offered Fateha for the departed soul of female MNA Rifat Amjad Yasin, who died in China recently.

The house also prayed for those killed in the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa operation.