Opposition to boycott parliament till PM visits

By Muhammad Anis & Mumtaz Alvi

ISLAMABAD: Taking a tough position, the joint opposition on Monday staged walkouts from the Senate and the National Assembly in addition to announcing a daily boycott of parliamentary sittings until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif explains his position in parliament with regard to his children’s names in the Panama Papers.

The opposition leaders said if the prime minister does not come to parliament, they too will not. “If Balochistan’s finance secretary is arrested for having Rs700 million, then why can action not be taken against the prime minister’s son, who has 70 billion dollars offshore,” asserted Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan after a discussion was held on a commenced resolution for allocation of Rs8 billion for conversion of tubewells across Balochistan on solar energy.

Opposition Leader in the NA Syed Khursheed Shah, speaking on the floor of the house, said the opposition did not want a discussion on the issue as it would not serve any purpose other than the use of abusive language and exchange of angry words. “We will not return till the prime minister comes to the house and clarifies his position on the Panama Leaks,” Shah said.

Members of the opposition parties including the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and Awami Muslim League (AML) joined the walkout.

Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq asked federal ministers Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Riaz Hussain Pirzada and Chaudhry Birjees Tahir to bring back the opposition members to the house. However, they failed to convince the opposition members to attend the proceedings of the NA. The situation forced the chair to adjourn the proceedings of the house till Tuesday morning.

In the Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan said there were allegations against the prime minister’s family and being the Leader of the House, he should come here and reply to these allegations but he was hiding from the Senate and hurling charges at the opposition.

In the meantime, senators belonging to Fata also staged a walkout against the failure to meet the demands of the Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa teachers, despite a commitment made by the federal government.

The veteran legislator maintained he was not saying that all these allegations against the prime minister and his children were correct, but it was an important issue that he should hisexplain in the Senate.

Saying this, he led the opposition senators out of the House, who stayed outside for about an hour. On their return, Aitzaz announced that they had unanimously decided on everyday boycott of the House business after briefly waiting for Nawaz Sharif inside the Senate.

Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq said the opposition’s agitation was an ongoing issue and the leader of opposition had a one-point agenda. The treasury senators, including Ch Tanvir Khan and Nihal Hashmi, wanted to speak but the chair did not allow them, saying they should first exhaust the orders of the day.

After the opposition and Fata senators’ walkout, the House lacked quorum but no one pointed it out and hence proceedings continued till the time the session was adjourned till Tuesday afternoon.Earlier, when asked by Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, Raja Zafar went to bring back the opposition senators, who returned after discussion on their future strategy. Towards the end of the sitting, the ruling PML-N parliamentary leader Mushahid Ullah Khan accused the opposition of making a mountain out of a molehill and said it was purely the discretion of the premier if and when to come to the Senate and he had been coming to the House earlier.

He alleged the opposition was trying to exploit the situation arising out of the Panama Leaks, as the prime minister had already formed a commission under a retired judge to probe the matter and the government had framed its terms of reference, which was always its job but these could be changed.

The PML-N senator pointed out that despite an observation by the chief justice of Pakistan, a letter was written to him for the formation of a commission. “Can we ask the leader of the opposition to explain his position? We can’t as there is no mention of him in the leaks, and the same is the case with Nawaz Sharif,” he noted.

He said the so-called achievements of the PPP government were before everyone while the PML-N government’s achievements in three years included a marked improvement in law and order in Karachi, massive fall in crime rate in Karachi, and peace in tribal areas and hoisting the national flag across Balochistan, which was not possible earlier.

The senator said that loadshedding had been brought down significantly and would be over next year and economy had been put on the recovery path, CPEC was under way and energy projects were being installed.

He asked who had received how much money from Hamesh Khan and how much was mentioned on the receipt. He added Raja Pervaiz Ashraf claimed that he had nothing abroad but it surfaced that he owned a residence worth 10 million pounds in Britain.

Mushahid Ullah asserted if there was anything, as the opposition alleged, it would be decided at a legal forum and not inside parliament. He referred to the emergence of names of Aleem Khan in the leaks and property of Jehangir Tareen, Zulfi Bokhari and Abdul Rehman Malik.

On the other hand, in the NA Khursheed Shah spoke on a point of order saying Nawaz Sharif should have given a statement on the Panama Papers in parliament instead of addressing the nation twice. He said he also wanted to remind the prime minister that Nawaz, during the sit-in staged by the PTI, had stated that parliament was the best forum to raise voice. “I also want to tell the prime minister that instead of addressing the nation on TV, parliament is the best forum to clarify his position,” he said.

He maintained the opposition parties never wanted to cause damage to the democratic system; rather, they desired to resolve the issue in a political way. He regretted that instead of giving a thought to the opposition’s proposals, the government had rejected their ToRs before going through the document.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the PTI also demanded of the prime minister to give a statement on the Panama Papers in the house. “If the British prime minister can clarify his position in his parliament for two-and-a-half hours, then what stops our premier from doing the same,” he said.

Referring to the prime minister’s statement that the opposition was indulging in economic terrorism, the PTI leader said they should not be associated with terrorism. “We had extended our support to the 21st Amendment in the Constitution, Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (Popa) and the National Action Plan (NAP),” he said.

Following the opposition’s walkout, PML-N’s Daniyal Aziz said immediately after the release of Panama Papers, the prime minister had presented himself and his family for accountability. He said the opposition did not expect that the government would go for a commission of the Supreme Court judges but the government had opted for it to come clear on the charges. He said ToRs of the government were more comprehensive than those of the opposition adding the opposition had failed to come out with constructive criticism of the TORs framed by the government.

Dr. Farooq Sattar of the MQM raised the issue of custodial killing of his coordinator Aftab Ahmad and demanded early formation of a judicial commission to probe into the death of his party worker. – Originally published in The News