Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday staged a walkout from National Assembly in protest against the speech of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani who had stated on Wednesday that the government would invoke Article-6 of the Constitution against the former dictator only if the house passed a consensus resolution.
Opposition leader in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in his speech said that nobody had the right to forgive a dictator, "who is a national criminal". Nisar said that whoever would pardon the subvertor of the Constitution would be a traitor of the nation and his party would launch a campaign for his trial like it did for the restoration of the sacked judges.
Regretting the government attitude towards the apex court's judgement, he said government was protecting a "national criminal" instead of bringing him to justice. The opposition leader said none of the politicians "whether he is Nawaz Sharif, Gilani, Fazlur Rehman, Asfandyar Wali or whosoever" could forgive a dictator who not only abrogated the Constitution once, but twice.
Regretting the speech of the Prime Minister in the Parliament, he announced that his party was staging a walkout to protest the attitude of the government. The PML-N MNAs later rejoined the house when some federal ministers persuaded them to end their protest.
In response to Chaudhry Nisar's speech, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said that the Prime Minister wanted to build bridges for reconciliation instead of constructing walls. He said that no one would be allowed to disintegrate the PPP, adding that no one would be allowed to make the minus-one formula a success.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that no one could refuse to make the dictator accountable but a stronger democracy was a must to achieve such objective. Terming the issue a serious matter, he suggested that all the political parties should sit together and evolve a consensus strategy on this issue. He stressed that accountability should not be restricted only to November 3 action of Musharraf, but it should also be extended to October 12, 1999 and all elements involved in that action be held accountable.
The Maulana said the changing international scenario has overshadowed the Kashmir issue as once it was country's core foreign policy issue. He underscored the need for highlighting the issue at international level again. He also suggested that National Assembly Special Committee on Kashmir be given a status of Parliamentary Kashmir Committee by including members of Senate as well. On this, Prime Minister said that it is not an executive matter and pertaining to parliament so speaker could do so and the government would facilitate, if needed.