MUZAFFARABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rasheed on Sunday took strong exception to the “unconstitutional stance” of the former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry who said that after the Panama leaks, the prime minister should step down and that an interim prime minister should then be appointed.

“Regrettably, the former chief justice is unfamiliar with, or rather ignorant of, the Constitution. He has always come up with formulae in contravention of the Constitution, much like his latest stance,” he said at a press conference in Central Press Club, Muzaffarabad.

Questioning the locus standi of the former CJP to issue “fatwas” in politics, the information minister said: “No one knows which political party Iftikar Chaudhry represents, but he is talking about a prime minister who secured a two-third majority in the national and provincial assemblies.”

He said the former CJP should “come out of his dreams of replacing the parliamentary government with a presidential system”.

Though he talked about everything from roads, drones and peace in Kashmir, the information minister avoided giving clear answers when asked about Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) financial and constitutional empowerment.

When asked if the federal government will sign an agreement with AJK on the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHP), he started off with the history and role of the PML-N government regarding the speedy execution of the mega power project.

“We came to power in 2013 while the Neelum Jhelum project started before that. Why was it not completed in time and why were no questions asked then,” he asked.

He went on to say that the PML-N government had inherited NJHP in ruins and that while the project had eaten up billions of rupees, it was nowhere near completion and that because of the prime minister’s interests, the project will be commissioned by next year.

When he was reminded of the original question, he said the agreement issue will be settled once AJK got a new government.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2016