ISLAMABAD Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has held the judiciary responsible for the present state of 'confusion' on the issue of fake degrees.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Chaudhry Nisar whose party was in the forefront of the movement for restoration of deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, also challenged the judiciary to take cognisance of the statement of MQM chief Altaf Hussain urging army generals to take “martial law-like action” against corrupt politicians. “You always remain in search of issues to take suo motu notices. Now take action because a person has openly talked about abrogation of the Constitution in broad daylight,” the PML-N leader said, seemingly unhappy with the judiciary for some reasons as he did not explain under which law the judiciary could initiate such an action merely on the basis of a statement.
He announced that his party had decided to move a privilege motion on the issue and termed the MQM chief's statement “part of a well-designed and well-orchestrated strategy”.
However, in response to a question, he ruled out the possibility that Mr Hussain had made the statement at the behest of army.
Chaudhry Nisar said that had the judiciary taken a clear-cut stand on the issue of fake degrees while hearing the petition challenging the academic qualification of PPP MNA Jamshed Dasti, there would have been no confusion today.
“Why did the Supreme Court allow Mr Dasti to resign and get himself re-elected?” he asked.
Chaudhry Nisar also asked the MQM not to support the toothless accountability bill that the government wanted to bring in parliament if it was serious about its demand for action against the corrupt people.
Replying to a question, the opposition leader rejected Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's claim that Nawaz Sharif's proposal for setting up an independent flood relief commission could not materialise because of opposition from the provinces.
He said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had told him that the issue was never discussed at the meeting of the Na- tional Disaster Management Commission.
