ISLAMABAD: PML-N leader and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, has upped the ante in his party’s confrontation with the ruling PPP and accused President Asif Ali Zardari of giving a ‘provincial colour’ to the Supreme Court verdict on the appointment of Justice (retd) Syed Deedar Hussain Shah as chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Addressing a news conference at the Punjab House on Sunday, Chaudhry Nisar said he was yet to receive the much-talked about letter from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani regarding reappointment of Justice Deedar Shah as NAB chairman.
He said the letter written to him by the prime minister on the president’s advice had reached everywhere through the media, but not to the person it was addressed to.
He criticised the government for its hasty decision of reappointing Deedar Shah and writing the letter to him without waiting for the detailed judgment.
He hinted that he might wait for the detailed verdict before responding to the letter if he received it.
“I have not decided yet. But of course, my mind says that before making any response, I should first see reasons for which the court has declared the appointment of a person illegal.”
The Supreme Court in its March 10 short order on the petition of Chaudhry Nisar annulled the appointment. The verdict by a three-judge bench, with detailed reasons the court said would be issued later, required the NAB chairman, a former judge of the Supreme Court, to immediately leave the office he had assumed five months earlier after another legal row in which the court had ordered removal of his predecessor.
Chaudhry Nisar had challenged the appointment on the ground that the prime minister had not met the constitutional requirement of holding mandatory consultation with him.
Soon after the court verdict, PPP’s Sindh chapter gave a call for strike in the province and violence erupted in different areas of Karachi, causing losses of life and damage to vehicles.
Chaudhry Nisar held President Zardari responsible for the killings in Karachi and alleged that he had put the whole country, the government and his own party at stake by not accepting the verdict.
The opposition leader said the reaction showed by the PPP immediately after the court’s decision had proved his assertion that Deedar Shah was a Jiyala (diehard PPP activist).
“Whenever President Zardari finds himself in trouble, he starts wearing Sindhi cap and Ajrak (traditional shawl). On the other hand, when the people of his province were looking for help during the recent floods, he was visiting his palaces in the UK and France,” he said, accusing the president of fanning ‘provincialism’.
“We are against President Zardari not because he is a Sindhi but because of his misdeeds,” he said, adding that his party had no prejudice against anyone despite the fact that three of the four top constitutional offices were being held by people from Sindh — the president, the Senate chairman and the National Assembly speaker.
Chaudhry Nisar warned President Zardari that the PML-N could create problems for him when he would come to parliament to meet a constitutional requirement of addressing a joint session of both houses in a few days.
“If the government does not change its attitude, we will not let it run parliament smoothly,” he warned. “If someone will violate the law, parliament will react to it.”
“The wrong and outdated policies being pursued by the Presidency have put the government on the death bed and for the past seven days the PPP has been begging before the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to provide it oxygen,” he said.
Chaudhry Nisar was also critical of President Zardari’s move to approach the PML-Q. “President Zardari should sit with Bilawal and Bakhtawar and seek an apology from the nation and accept their mistake of calling the party ‘qatil League’,” he said.
“After Musharraf’s departure, Asif Zardari is the new face of disaster for the country,” he said, alleging that the president had become a threat to democracy, Constitution and rule of law.
He also criticised Law Minister Babar Awan’s role in the government and the ruling party and challenged his loyalty to the PPP.
Replying to a question, he denied that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had called for involving the army and judiciary in the political process. He claimed that a statement by the chief minister had been presented out of context and said the PML-N was against army’s involvement in politics.
He said the Punjab chief minister’s statement actually meant that both the army and the judiciary would also have to hold self-accountability.
