ISLAMABAD: Two mainstream political parties — the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf — on Friday opposed the settlement between the government and the Army over the row over the Dawn story on proceedings of a high-profile security meeting and called for bringing the matter before parliament.

“The matter has been settled but between whom. Where is parliament? We do not accept that any of the two parties is above parliament,” Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, said. Both parties to the settlement were accountable to parliament and their representatives should appear before it, he added.

“Neither Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nor Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is above parliament,” the senator remarked. He said there was no doubt that the Army was subordinate to the government, but the settlement was surprising in the wake of the rhetoric of national security for seven months.

He also referred to Article 243 (1) of the Constitution, which reads; “The Federal Government shall have control and command of the Armed Forces.”

He referred to remarks made by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday that the inquiry report had been delayed due to a lack of consensus. He said it was a “strange condition” reportedly set by Justice Aamer Raza Khan, head of the inquiry committee, that he would sign the report only after a consensus was reached.

Opposition leader wants both parties to appear before parliament

Mr Ahsan linked the probe saga to what he described as a confession by Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair that meetings at the Prime Minister’s House were bugged by the PML-N’s media centre. He recalled that during a talk show, the PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi drew his attention to stories in media which attributed to him some remarks allegedly made at the All Parties Conference convened by the Prime Minister. Mr Zubair was adamant that he (Aitzaz) did say it.

Asked how he came to know about it, Mr Zubair said: “We were listening to it from the media centre.”

Senator Ahsan also raised objections over the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed by the Supreme Court to probe the offshore assets of Nawaz Sharif, insisting that the ISI chief was a “close relative” of Maryam Nawaz.

He said: “The Army has surrendered before the civilian authority and we are satisfied.”

The opposition staged a walkout after Mr Ahsan’s speech without formally calling it a mark of protest against absence of the interior minister from the house.

Two parties

Senate Chai­rman Mian Raza Rabbani asked Sheikh Aftab, the minister for parliamentary affairs, to explain what is meant by “two parties” in the press release on the matter. The latter replied, “the government and the Army”.

Mr Rabbani’s retort was terse. “This means the government does not believe in Article 243 of the Constitution.” He advised the government not to make a mockery of theConstitution. He said Article 90 had defined the term “government”.

The minister said parliament was supreme, but the Senate chairman said he was not satisfied with his answer. He asked the leader of the house, leader of the opposition and the parliamentary party heads to assist him, saying the Senate would decide what to do in this regard. Winding up the discussion on the probe row, Sheikh Aftab said that with the passage of time all institutions had realised the need to work within the Constitution. The handling of the episode, especially the denouement, would strengthen democracy, he added. “The settlement is neither a victory of one party nor a defeat of the other.”

Panama Papers

Later the house took up the matter of the Panama Papers.

Taking part in the debate, Senator Farhatullah Babar of the PPP said the fight against corruption would neither be credible nor sustainable unless three basic issues were addressed.

These issues, according to him, were: (i) the sacred cows beyond accountability; (ii) discriminatory application of laws; and (iii) institutional corruption.

Sheikh Aftab, winding up the discussion, claimed the Sharif family was a big name in business even before Pakistan’s creation. He said the prime minister would appear before the JIT if it was needed.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2017