Sindh cabinet on Saturday condemned the post-February 25 violent incidents and ratified the constitutionally "mandatory" decision of President Asif Ali Zardari to impose Governor rule in Punjab province. It said that PML-N's assertion on restoration of deposed Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar was aimed at abolition of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), 2007.
This was stated at a press briefing by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah Chief Minister House. E was flanked by coalition partners from MQM, ANP, PML-F and other cabinet members. He said all coalition partners in Sindh cabinet had reviewed the "deplorable" events that took place in the wake of Supreme Court verdict on ineligibility of Sharif brothers.
"It seems as if they had preplanned these violent protests which have hurt the reconciliatory process greatly," he added. He said PML-N was so assertive only to get a single judge reinstated to abolish the NRO. The CM said PML-N wanted "immediate" reinstatement of Chauwdhry, but it never told PPP the procedure through which the deposed chief justice could be reinstated on his seat, which was possible either by an executive order or constitutional amendment.
"Obviously, we can not remove a serving chief justice (Justice Dogar) to restore Mr Chauwdhry by an executive order, like General Musharraf as now the Constitution is in place everything has to be done through it," he said. The chief minister claimed that PML-N had a plan to abrogate NRO at the hands of Chauwdhry who, at a recent reception in Dera Ismail Khan, had assured Nawaz Sharif of "full co-operation" with his party, which was struggling for his reinstatement.
"That was Mr Chauwdhry's political statement showing commitment to a political leader (Nawaz)... it was not the judicial one," he said. He also criticised a PML-N's statement terming NRO as wrong and beneficial for PPP only. "This statement has come after the February 25 verdict, as they say our judiciary would abrogate the Ordinance so what do they mean by saying our judiciary," Qaim said.
He also rejected the impression that the verdict had come from "PCO judges", saying that two of the three judges were from Punjab while the third, Justice Musa Lughari, was the one who had rejected PPP's nominations in Benazir Bhutto's ineligibility case in 1998. The Sindh chief minister also warned against creating law and order situation in the province, saying that a strong Sindh government would not tolerate unparliamentary language any further.
"Enough is enough; people should use parliamentary language in a civilised way, otherwise, we would not tolerate it in any way," he maintained. Terming Governor rule in Punjab as "mandatory" as per Constitution, he said the President on the advice of Prime Minister had filled the administrative vacuum that had arisen after the disqualification of chief minister by the Supreme Court.
"As no party can show majority in the Punjab Assembly the Governor Rule was mandatory under Article 234 of the Constitution," the CM contended, adding, however, that the rule would end before the scheduled two-month time. He appreciated the response of ANP, MQM, PML-F and JUI-F leader Fazl-ur-Rehman as positive to the February 25 court verdict.