ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: Opposition Leader in the Senate Raza Rabbani on Friday criticised Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz for not attending the parliament session to defend himself during the debate on the detailed judgment of the Supreme Court in the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) privatisation case.

“As the opposition’s attack was on the prime minister during the whole debate, it was his (Mr Aziz) duty to respond to the charges against him as it is the practice in all democratic countries,” Mr Rabbani said, while speaking at a news conference with People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Senator Dr Safdar Abbasi at the Parliament House.

Mr Rabbani said there was a total lack of defence on the part of the government during the debate on the PSM privatisation, and the treasury members failed to give replies to the arguments of the opposition members in both the National Assembly and the Senate. He said despite the opposition’s demand, the prime minister did not come to both the houses. He said this attitude showed that the prime minister considered himself above accountability. Moreover, he said, Mr Aziz had violated the Constitution which stated that the prime minister and his cabinet were answerable to the parliament.

Mr Rabbani alleged that the prime minister was not attending the sessions as he knew that he would not be able to defend his cabinet members involved in sugar, cement and stock market scams. He said there was no moral justification for the rulers to stay in power.

He said Federal Minister for Privatisation Zahid Hamid, in his winding up speech, had negated every argument concerning the judgment of the Supreme Court. He said the thrust of the minister’s speech was that whatever the government had done was right. He asked the government that if it had a strong case then it should go immediately to file a review petition with the court against the judgment and clarify its legal position. He said the government was not going for the review as it knew that it would further expose its corruption.

Responding to the allegations of the treasury senators that the previous governments of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto were corrupt, he said the corrupt elements of both the parties were now in the ruling party.

Mr Rabbani said the government had become a stooge to the international capitalists and it’s basic aim was to cripple the infrastructure of industries to convert Pakistan into a market of third degree products of the multinationals. He said the opposition would not allow the privatisation of the PSM and every effort in this direction would be resisted.

Mr Rabbani said under Article 154(4), the Council of Common Interests (CCI) was bound to seek guidelines on any issue from the joint sitting of the parliament. He called for convening the joint parliamentary session for this purpose. He said the NWFP chief minister had opposed the PSM privatisation during the CCI meeting and submitted a dissenting note. He said if one province opposed any decision then the matter was brought before the joint session of the parliament.