PML-N to boycott in-camera session, says Nisar

PML-N will not attend the forthcoming joint session of the Parliament if it is held in camera to discuss the Nato air strikes and 'memogate' issues. "We will not participate in any in camera joint sitting of the Parliament. The joint-session should be open for media. The government has nothing to show to the nation but it has a lot to hide from the people," said Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan at a Parliamentary Reporters Association here on Friday.
Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani had earlier said that he would call a joint session of the Parliament to discuss Nato aggression against Pakistan and the issue of secret 'memogate' scandal. The opposition leader said, "The PML-N would not become part of any resolution in coming joint sitting because the government did not implement joint resolutions passed by the Parliament and All Parties Conference since 2008. Till the government does not implement the joint resolutions, the PML-N parliamentarians would not support any new joint resolution."
Nisar said that the government should summon joint session before Muharram 10 on both issues. "Parliament is the focal point of hopes of the people but the government made it ineffective. Now the focal point of decisions making is the Presidency, the Prime Minister House and Core Committee of the PPP." He said that all decisions should be taken in the parliament and it should be made focal point to fulfil the hopes of the people.
About his resignation from Public Accounts Committee (PAC), he said that the government has appointed a controversial person as the Auditor General of Pakistan. He said that the government also started passing on messages through his party members in APC that Yreasury members have been given signals to block the proceedings of the committee.
He said that there are audit paras worth more than Rs 300 billion on the performance of the government. The Auditor General of Pakistan is favourite of the executive and has given special instructions to present audit paras of its choice in the PAC meeting. The Opposition Leader said that memogate is not a political but a national issue and the PML-N has raised it on the forum of Supreme Court because the government made the parliament ineffective. He said that PML-N has not termed President Asif Ali Zardari as disloyal to the country in its petition filed in the Court.