ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly for the second consecutive day on Tuesday continued an informal and heated debate on the controversial affidavit of former chief judge of the apex court of Gilgit-Baltistan Rana Shamim regarding the alleged role of former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar in the denial of bail to Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz in corruption cases as opposition members insisted on their demand for a parliamentary probe while the treasury members termed the issue “planned and fabricated”.

The house also witnessed a heated exchange of arguments between the treasury members from Karachi and the Pakistan Peoples Party lawmakers after the former lashed out at the PPP-led Sindh government over its alleged bad governance in the province.

Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who presided over the sitting for most of the time, allowed the members to speak on the issues of their choice through points of order, putting aside the entire agenda of the private member’s day.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Javed Latif was the first one who raised the issue of GB judge’s affidavit while speaking on a point of order, saying that parliament must probe the matter to know the truth.

In their speeches, the members also named some of the former judges who had allegedly played a partisan role in the past. When the opposition members mentioned Justice Qazi Faez Isa and former judge of the Islamabad High Court Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, the treasury members reminded the PML-N as to how it had rewarded former judges Rafique Tarar and Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui by appointing them the president and the governor of Sindh, respectively, for their controversial decisions in favour of the party.

“A judge has levelled allegations against another judge. Is there no need for investigating the matter?” asked Mr Latif, while asking the chair to form a parliamentary committee to assess who was speaking the truth. He said that previously the nation had seen the statements of Mr Siddiqui and accountability judge Arshad Malik. He ridiculed the treasury members’ allegations that the opposition was scandalising the judiciary ahead of the hearing of Maryam Nawaz in a case on Wednesday (today). He said it was not the first incident as previously Mr Siddiqui and Mr Malik had also issued statements confirming interference from outside in the judicial matters.

Minister for Communications Murad Saeed in his usual hard-hitting speech severely criticised the PML-N for targeting the national institutions. He said the PML-N was habitual of targeting esteemed institutions whenever corruption cases were opened against the party leaders.

He alleged that the PML-N was trying to build a new narrative in the wake of their next hearing to make negative impression against the judiciary to obtain petty gains.

The minister also launched personal attacks on the PML-N leadership amid sloganeering from the opposition benches.

Independent MNA Mohsin Dawar expressed surprise over the government’s act of defending former CJP Saqib Nisar.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2021