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ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly witnessed an uproar on Wednesday over the ruling party’s confrontational attitude towards the judiciary, with leader of the opposition lambasting the Sharif family for portraying judges as “gun-toting vigilantes”.
But the government maintained that accountability should be across the board and not limited to just one family, with a minister insisting that he had the right to voice his personal opinion over the decision of the superior judiciary.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah raised the issue when he took the floor to announce the opposition’s customary walkout.
“Do you want to damage an institution for the sake of just one family, your family?” he asked, angrily brandishing an Urdu newspaper that contained a controversial statement by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
According to Mr Shah, the prime minister’s brother had insinuated that the court had singled out the Sharif family for accountability at gunpoint. “Is this how you speak about the courts? Do you think they are pointing guns at you? This is anarchy,” he declared.
“You target the courts, someone else targets the Election Commission; who is left then?” he asked, ominously, and ended his remarks with the disdainful parting shot: “You can do what you want to with this country.”
Saad Rafique says courts have made several mistakes that can be criticised; opposition convenes another ‘awami assembly’
Following his departure, the firebrand Khawaja Saad Rafique took to defending his party and lashed out at the judiciary for “singling out” his leadership and referring to the prime minster as a ‘godfather’ and then calling the government ‘a Sicilian mafia’.
He criticised the ousting of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, but when Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi said he would expunge these remarks, the minister maintained that he had a right to voice his opinions about court decisions.
When the deputy speaker did not agree, the railways minister asked him whether he would also expunge Mr Shah’s remarks, who had termed the execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto a “judicial murder”. However, Mr Abbasi avoided getting into an argument with the lawmaker from Lahore.
In his speech, Mr Rafique contended that Shahbaz Sharif had not insulted anyone. “But it is a fact that the judiciary has upheld imposition of different martial laws in the country,” he said.
He said that former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had made the PPP miserable in its five-year term, adding that yet his lust for power was not quenched.
Talking about the joint investigation team (JIT) formed to probe the Panama Papers allegations, he said the government could not accept that one of its members was a relative of an opposition leader.
He condemned the release of Hussain Nawaz’ photo and rejected an allegation that the picture was released by the government itself to gain sympathy.
He also maintained that the entire government had condemned Nehal Hashmi’s statement against the judiciary and JIT members.
Awami assembly
The opposition, meanwhile, congregated under a newly-constructed awning outside Parliament House for a second session of their parallel ‘People’s Parliament’.
Chaired by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Arif Alvi, the session saw the unanimous adoption of two resolutions; one condemning Shahbaz Sharif’s statement against the judiciary, and another regarding widespread power cuts across the country.
Opposition members flayed the government for “its inadequate response” to the crisis in the Middle East, following the boycott of Qatar over its regime’s alleged terrorist ties.
PTI’s Shireen Mazari asked whether Pakistan would side with “Saudi Arabia, Israel and the US” against Qatar. “It seems like the prime minister doesn’t quite understand foreign affairs,” she sneered.
Fata MNA Shahji Gul Afridi made a sarcastic speech criticising the reluctance of Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Maulana Fazlur Rehman to accept the Fata reforms.
“The government has two blue-eyed boys; one says the Durand Line is controversial — meaning that our borders are controversial — while the other wants a referendum along the lines of East Timor,” he jeered.
Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2017
