LAHORE, Aug 3: Opposition leader in the National Assembly Pervaiz Elahi says Mian Shahbaz Sharif is disqualified from the office as the PML-Q parliamentary party will decide in next session of the provincial assembly to file a reference against him.

At a news conference here on Sunday, he said the ruling coalition had failed both on internal and external fronts despite unconditional support by the opposition in the larger national interest.

Former Punjab law minister Muhammad Basharat Raja and MNA Marvi Memon were also present.

Chaudhry Pervaiz said Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s US visit not only exposed incompetence of his team, but also brought a bad name to the country. “It is humiliation of the elected premier,” he said, and advised Mr Gilani to probe the elements which ‘imposed’ Washington visit on him.

The former chief minister also criticised ‘ineptness’ of Mr Sharif due to which the World Bank refused to extend financial assistance for various projects in the province.

Sarcastically referring to Mr Sharif’s stress on drainage of rainwater these days, he said the chief minister should benefit the province with his expertise in cleanliness of drains and sewer lines, but also pay attention to other issues of the masses, particularly the rising graph of prices.

The opposition leader said his party had voted for the prime minister with the intention that the new government would serve the masses but, he regeretted, it failed to do anything despite conducive environment.

“The ruling alliance has not yet done anything to the benefit of the country. Rather their every step has caused loss to the nation.”

He lamented that the ministers disgraced the country during their visit abroad as the defence minister, instead of talking about improving the defence capabilities of the country, chided its own (defence) institutions.

Lauding the role of the ISI in the national defence, the opposition leader deplored that the government made an abortive attempt to damage the institution by giving it under the interior division.

Referring to the raising of the issue in European Parliament of human rights violations by Indian army, and unnamed graves in the occupied Kashmir, he regretted that no member of the delegation (including the prime minister) bothered to draw attention of the world towards the problem and present Pakistan’s case. He said Mr Gilani also failed to discuss bilateral trade and US-India nuclear cooperation agreement during his visit.

He observed that under the new set-up Islamabad’s stance on defence, Kashmir, nuclear programme, trade and other issues had weakened.

Commenting on the internal situation, Pervaiz Elahi said prices of essential items were being enhanced on a daily basis and price-hike and unemployment were forcing the people to commit suicides and sell their offspring. He said industries were being shutdown owing to loadshedding while investors were transferring their capital abroad.

He said the rulers, who had been talking of supremacy of parliament, were taking all important decision outside it.

Mr Sharif, instead of initiating any new project, was criticising the initiatives taken by the previous government, he said, claiming that the bureaucrats were not listening to the incumbent chief minister because of which the latter was venting out his frustration by abusing Wasa officials.

Alleging victimisation in Punjab and Sindh by the ruling coalition, the opposition leader said audit of local bodies was being conducted to find some excuse for registering false cases against political rivals.