• Rabbani insists SC registrar should have issued clarification, not AGP
• Minister defends law officer

ISLAMABAD: Amid an objection by a ruling coalition lawmaker to the ‘clarification’ issued by the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP), the Senate on Tuesday continued to reverberate with the controversy over the remarks by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial that “the country just had one honest prime minister”.

At the outset of the proceedings, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar tried to bring on record the AGP’s statement to clarify the recent remarks by the chief justice.

When Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani asked as to what the chief justice wants to clarify, the law minister quoted the AG as clarifying that he was present in the courtroom and no adverse remarks about honesty of prime ministers in the country had been uttered.

Former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said the AGP should have defended the parliament when it was being whipped by the judiciary. He said the house should take serious exception to the letter wri­tten by the AGP to clarify the position of the chief justice. The PPP stalwart then rema­rked if the AG ‘dared to clarify the proceedings of the house’.

The senator said the AGP had the privilege to attend proceedings of both houses of parliament, but was not a member of the house. “He cannot control the proceedings of the house. He cannot talk on behalf of this house. He cannot issue a clarification on behalf of this house. Let it be very clear.”

The PPP senator, however, was of the opinion that the letter should not be placed on record of the house.

Pointing out that neither he nor Mr Rabbani was there in the court, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said the AGP was present in the courtroom and, as the principal law officer, was part of the government.

“He deemed it appropriate to communicate it to the law minister and I have put the clarification before you [the house]. There is no need to go deep down into it,” he said.

But even with his mic swit­c­hed off, Mr Rabbani loudly exc­laimed: “He had no right.” Mr Tarar responded that the AG had ‘not commented’ but ‘just clarified’. “If someone has done it with good intentions, there is no need for his criticism,” the minister noted.

A still unsatisfied Rabbani, however, stressed a clarification should have been issued by the Supreme Court registrar. “The institutions belong to all of us. We should move forward instead of complicating things,” Mr Tarar exhorted.

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Dr Shahzad Wasim said the chief justice also spoke about incomplete parliament and this should also be discussed. He said a majority was turned into a minority under a ‘conspiracy’ through the worst kind of horse-trading.

He said if the government really respected the judiciary, it should also respect the Constitution. “Why the dates for general elections to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies are not being announced,” the PTI senator asked.

“Is Lahore High Court not a court? Why are you not implementing its order for immediate holding of elections in Punjab?” he questioned. He also criticised the government for giving “NRO to itself by making controversial amendments” to the accountability law.

At this, the law minister reminded him of the SC observation that the PTI had deliberately quit the assemblies and it should have taken part in the NA proceedings when the NAB amendment bill landed in the house.

The Senate chairman intended to open the question hour session, but many members from both the sides rose to speak, compelling the chair to abruptly prorogue the house sine die.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2023