Terming the law and justice standing committee unconstitutional, the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, has said that National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) would make a dent on the image of parliament. "The NRO is a black law which was promulgated by a military dictator," he said this while talking to media at the Parliament House on Friday.
He claimed that the people involved in kidnapping, murder and other criminal cases had benefited from NRO. "The government is building a safety wall in the shape of NRO but it cannot withstand the lashing of the nation and the opposition," Nisar warned. Chaudhry Nisar claimed, that "the government had started approaching parliamentarians of different political parties for horse-trading. If the government has resorted to such negative tactics to have NRO approved by the Parliament all options are open to us, including the Supreme Court," he said.
Answering a question, he said the NRO was not discussed during Nawaz Sharif-Asif Zardari meeting because the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) knew well that the PML(N) would not support it. The Opposition Leader said the national assembly standing committee on law and justice was itself unconstitutional. He alleged that the government was trying to use the parliament as it was used by former president Musharraf. Like PML-Q, the PML(n) had also demanded a complete list of the NRO beneficiaries, he added.
"The government is approaching PML-Q MNAs to garner support for the ordinance," he claimed. Answering another question, Nisar denied that Nawaz Sharif went into exile in 2000 under a deal with Musharraf. "The decision to send NRO to National Assembly's standing committee for law and justice was illegal," he said and added that "the Government is bulldozing the legislation by increasing the number of its members in the NA body."
He said he had dispatched a letter to Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza, to remove imbalances in the composition of the parliamentary body on law and justice. He said he had taken his letter back after he failed to get a reply from her.
Answering a question, the PML-N leader said that his party would not support any undemocratic move and "if change comes through democratic means we will support it". Nisar said the PML-N did not believe in "Minus-1" or "Minus-5" formula. The Opposition Leader said that PML-N leaders never benefited from NRO, and that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman's accusations against PML-N were baseless.
"Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman is a master in changing sides for benefits. He got benefits in Musharraf regime and now he is trying to do the same with Zardari," he claimed. Asked about his exclusion from PML-N's delegation, which called on the President, he said that President was playing the role of "co-chairman of Parliament" instead of PPP. "When he will behave like President only then will I see any problem in meeting him," the opposition leader said.
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