Parliamentarians from both sides of the aisles on Thursday opposed Governors Rule in Punjab whereas the PML-N lawmakers boycotted the session protesting against the disqualification of the Sharif brothers and imposition of the Governors Rule.
While taking part in the debate on the Governors Rule in Punjab, the leaders urged both political parties - PML-N and PPP to join hands and resolve the issues through democratic means. PML-N members boycotted the session when presiding officer deputy speaker of National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi did not allow them to speak on a point of order on the disqualification of the their leadership by the apex court.
They did not join the sitting even on the request of PPP lawmakers including Naveed Qamar, Amin Fahim, Khurshid Shah, Babar Awan and PML-Qs Riaz Pirzada to end their boycott.
Taking part in the debate, PML-Q leader Raza Hayat Hiraj strongly criticised the imposition of Governors Rule saying that the government instead of taking undemocratic steps should legalise the Constitution, which comprised the unconstitutional steps of former President Pervez Musharraf. He said that during his partys government, which was blamed for supporting dictatorship did not take such steps against the MMA government in NWFP.
He called for summoning an All Parties Conference (APC) to resolve the current political turmoil. He said that his party leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has formally urged for calling APC to resolve the current political crisis. He also urged the sacked Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to voluntarily withdraw from his demand and go home keeping in view the turmoil in the country.
He said that his partys government sent him home and he believes that the present government would never reinstate him. He appealed the PML-N leadership to avoid holding long march, which he termed very harmful for the country. He said that owing to the law and order situation and the current challenges, the long march should be avoided adding that if any act of terrorism takes place during the long-march and sit-in, no one would be able to stand in the House.
The PML-Q leader regretted saying that his party was named as "Qatil" League after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto but now it is being recalled with good names when its importance was felt.
He asked PPP and PML-N to resolve their issues through political dialogue adding that his party would not become part of the government and that PML-Q would prefer to sit on the opposition benches. He also criticised the government for making the Parliament as rubber stamp, saying that the Prime Minister is not even have control over his own cabinet members and he is unaware of the decisions.
Deputy parliamentary leader of MQM Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi urged PPP and PML-N to resolve their issues through reconciliation and renewed his partys leader Altaf Hussains offer for a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict of disqualification of Sharif brothers adding his partys legal experts were ready if the PML-N is ready. He said that his partys leader extended the offer with sincerity but he regretted that the offer was given response with derogatory remarks against his party leadership. He said that the court decision was not the first in the countrys history citing that such decision was also given by a court against MQMs leader Dr Farooq Sattar and he was declared ineligible for 16 years and also Governors Rule was imposed in Sindh during second tenure of Nawaz Sharif but they did not launch civil disobedience movement but tackled all the issues through legal and democratic ways. He said that his partys leader wanted to avert confrontation between the two parties as the country could not afford such kind of situation at this stage.
"MQM does not want to indulge in the past bitterness where we can only see dead bodies of 15,000 of our colleagues but wants that the country on the path of democracy," he said. This is not the time for confrontation as the country needs reconciliation, Haider Abbas said adding the issue of disqualification should be resolved through legal ways and the country should not be pushed towards anarchy through launching disobedience movement.
Riaz Hussain Pirzada of PML-Q said that every time the country saw military take-over when the PPP and PML-N started confrontations in the past. He was of the view that the country was not much in need of reconciliation at any time as it is today and urged both the parties to resolve all issues through political means.
Pirzada, referring to the past military take-over by Pervez Musharraf, regretted his partys role adding that the dictator along with General Mehdi terrorised his partys members and the leadership to be after him. He called for formation of a committee comprising leaderships of all political parties to help resolve the current political issues before anybody else takes over.
Comments
Comments are closed.