Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday ruled out the possibility of holding talks with Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would not become part of an 'aimless' accountability bill.
Talking to reporters in the Parliament House, he accused the government of trying to accomplish its" infamous designs" under the cover of the "so-called accountability bill", and said that President Asif Ali Zardari and accountability were paradoxical. He said PML-N had given 58 proposals on the proposed bill, but PPP was trying to get the PML-N to withdraw them all "so that there will be no effective accountability".
"It seems next to impossible to get a good accountability law passed under President Zardari's leadership," he said. Chaudhry Nisar said there could be "contacts between PPP and PML-N", but formal talks "cannot be held with a party, which is not fulfilling its constitutional obligations".
Referring to the PPP-MQM talks on local government elections, he described the move an effort to sabotage the general elections and said that President Zardari had a one-point agenda - to get re-elected, and "public money is being used for this purpose". Terming the local government election a well-thought-out 'drama' being staged by the PPP, he said that efforts were aimed at rigging the general elections. Blasting the government for not abiding by the Supreme Court's orders regarding writing a letter to Swiss authorities to bring 'looted' money back home, he said the "unprecedented hike" in prices of petroleum products would beadly impact the national economy.
Referring to recent contacts between PPP and PML-N, Chaudhry Nisar said that the ruling party had contacted them with a new proposal regarding the proposed accountability bill. He, however, said that all points in the new proposal were old, which were unacceptable to his party, as points suggested by the PML-N were not included in the draft of the bill.
He said that he had sent a message to PTI chief Imran Khan through PML-N leader Zahid Hamid who had forwarded the message through another PTI leader for consultation on the caretaker set up. He rejected a statement of Imran Khan that he was not consulted on the issue. He said that Imran Khan had rejected names proposed by PML-N and suggested two names for the slot of caretaker prime minister. Nisar, however, refused to share the names with the media, saying that people would make a mockery of Imran if they knew the names.