Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) while terming President Asif Ali Zardari a 'big obstacle' in formation of an independent accountability body, announced that it moved Supreme Court against appointment of Admiral Fasih Bokhari (Retd) as chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday.
The decision in this regard was announced by leader of opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan at a news conference here at Punjab House. He also expressed his party's serious reservations over government's move to grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India.
Terming the appointment of Bokhari as NAB Chairman a negation of four apex court's verdicts, Nisar said he as leader of the opposition has been given responsibility by his party to file petition in Supreme Court against the move. He said that he would file petition in the apex court through his lawyer Akram Sheikh, who according to Nisar, has been given the task to prepare the petition, which will be submitted to the apex court on Saturday.
"One thing is very clear that President Zardari is a big obstacle in the formation of an independent and free accountability body," Chaudhry Nisar said, adding, "if an independent person is appointed as chairman NAB, the fist case he would be taking up is the Swiss money laundering case of $60 million pertaining to President Zardari."
According to him, the government has repeated the same procedure earlier adopted in the case of Deedar Hussain Shah. He regretted that President Zardari and his team has made a 'mockery' of head of the constitutional body and reiterated his party demand that a person acceptable to all should be appointed to the slot after meaningful and purposeful consultations, who will be able to undertake fearless accountability of government and opposition alike.
The leader of the opposition further said time has come that the apex court should also come up with interpretation of the term 'consultation', which is a constitutional requirement. To a question he declined to comment on the statement issued by Ex-servicemen Society in favour of the appointment of the retired admiral as chairman NAB.
Referring to the government move to grant MFN status to India, Nisar expressed his party's serious reservations, saying the move would have far-reaching consequences on geo-political and economic situation, as the status being given would allow India more than the normal trade. He said that it was PML-N principled position the two nuclear states should resolve their issues through dialogue, but, he added that India was a big hurdle in resolving the outstanding issues through dialogue.
"We have serious reservations on granting MFN status to India in an atmosphere where New Delhi is reluctant to move back a single inch from its stance," he said, adding, "We must resolve the issue through dialogue but not at the cost of national interests, not at the cost of Kashmir," he maintained.
The leader of the opposition vowed that his party would actively take up the matter of granting MFN status to India in the upcoming National Assembly session. Nisar also expressed serious concerns over the problems being faced in working of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for which he blamed Law Ministry, saying that the ECP should be free of any kind of political influence to hold free, fair and transparent elections.
He, however, appreciated the formation of the ECP but lamented four months have passed but the issue of their salaries was not resolved, for which they have to follow temporary orders of the chief election commissioner. Nisar said that he also took up the matter with Prime Minister Gilani and the later has given assurance that the matter would be resolved soon. He said that he also gave a suggestion to resolve the issue through presidential ordinance, saying his party would have no objection in this regard.
He also urged the government to give explanation of the article published in Financial Times that following Abbotabad operation President Zardari has reportedly sent a message to Washington through Admiral Mike Mullen (Retd) to help him against the purported military coupe meant to topple his government.
Responding a query, he said that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif did not accept an invitation to meet the visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton due to his scheduled seven-day visit to Turkey. He said that Nawaz will proceed to Turkey today (Friday).
To a question regarding Defence Housing Authority Bill, Nisar said that his party had approached military leadership and Defence Secretary would brief them regarding the bill. He further said that his party was also ready to sit with the government to resolve the issue through talks, saying that Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Shah has also approached the party. To another query, he claimed that various individuals from different political parties would announce joining PML-N in coming days. He further said that he had no objection if Sheikh Rashid Ahmed joined PML-N.