Opposition Leader in Upper House of the Parliament, Aitzaz Ahsan Thursday called upon fellow politicians to engage in 'self-criticism' instead of targeting state institutions which, he feared, may lead the country nowhere except paving the way for yet another coup d'état. In his farewell speech in the Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan commended the armed forces particularly Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and his predecessor General Raheel Sharif (retd), saying the duo always led from the front unlike their former army chiefs who never came out of their cozy cabins.
"Despite the fact the Army cleared Waziristan from hardcore terrorists, lost hundreds of its young officers along with thousands of soldiers while an equal number of its men were left handicapped but even then they [military] are being maligned," he regretted. The PPP stalwart said the rulers claim that the court verdicts are written somewhere else "but why you are unable to expose them if you are sure that the verdicts are written somewhere else."
Aiztaz came down hard on ruling Pakistan League-Nawaz (PML-N), particularly Nawaz Sharif, for diatribes against the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and said that anger of the rulers is because they are the 'spoiled brat' of the flawed system which had a track record of choice verdict. He continued that the courts are showing a great restrain as the language used by 'Nawaz Sharif and Co' is not acceptable, adding they celebrate when the same bench gives ruling in their favour in Hudaibia Papers' Mills and Orange Lines train cases - it shows their intentions because what they want is Kangaroo court and judges like Malik Qayyum.
"The way bureaucrats are being forced to hold pen-down strikes against the courts is disobedience against the system and again I would say these things will not serve any purpose except seeing a military general addressing the nation by saying 'my dear countrymen'," he warned. Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for showing unconditional loyalty to Nawaz Sharif, he said that the incumbent Prime Minister never exhausts by saying that he would dissolve the assemblies the day Sharif wants, which is violation of the Constitution.
"The standard operating procedure (SOP) of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is to put the name of the accused on Exit Control List (ECL) but the anti-graft body is not showing any spine to put Sharifs' names on the list," he lamented. In yet another attack on the former prime minister, Ahsan said that the way Sharif appears before accountability courts with a convoy of over 40 protocol vehicles surrounded by government minister is aimed at pressuring the court.
"He [Sharif] does not spare the Chief Justice of Pakistan, but can you imagine how much impact it leaves on accountability court judge Chaudhry Bashir when a disqualified man enters the court along with top government functionaries," he questioned. He said that Nawaz Sharif is out to settle scores with judiciary after it disqualified him for holding an Iqama (work permit), adding if the prime minister of a civilized country had been holding such a permit, he would have been in jail straight.
He recalled when the apex court had ruled against former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for not writing a letter to a Swiss magistrate, Sharif demanded Gilani to abide by Supreme Court's order and quit as PM. "But now when the same Supreme Court ruled against Nawaz Sharif, he along with his daughter is holding rallies against the judiciary and people are made to chant slogans against the verdict," he decried.
Despite removal of Senator Farhatullah Babar as spokesman for former President Asif Zardari after his hard hitting speech in the Senate, Ahsan said he agreed with each and every word of Babar's speech. "I cent percent agree with Babar who said judiciary and military should not cross their domains and I would add that we the politicians also must not cross the limits," he added.
Aitzaz took great pride in his political journey and his struggle for democracy, saying he turned down the offer made to him by the then military ruler General Pervez Musharraf who offered him thrice to become prime minister by quitting the lawyers' movement. About the allegation that he had handed over the list of Sikh fighters of Khalistan to the Indian government, he said that it was baseless propaganda against him by the then intelligence agency chief who was removed during the second tenure of Benazir Bhutto.
"Since then there came eight army chiefs and not even a single one of them believed the allegations were true. I remained in opposition and remained quite vocal against military, they could have ordered my trial if it had been true, as it is a serious crime," he added. Senator Taj Haider, who is going to retire on March 11, said that tension among the state institutions and political parties is not at all a good omen for the nation. He lamented how they were labelled as traitors and Indian agents once, while Pakistan was brought to destabilization by the dollar-funded Jehad, against which his party leaders had openly spoken.
He contended that the soldiers (army), judiciary and others should work within their constitutional ambits and the judiciary should satisfy other institutions. "Consultation and tolerance is the only way forward and merit can restore our dignity and respect," he emphasized. Other outgoing senators who spoke on the occasion included Rubina Irfan, Nasima Ahsan, Mukhtar Dhamra and Ahmad Hassan.
Earlier, Senator Muhammad Azam Musakhail presented a report of the House Standing Committee on Energy on the bill to further amend the Private Power and Infrastructure Board Act, 2012: The Pakistan Power and Infrastructure Board (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The panel recommended that the bill, as reported by the committee, may be passed by the Senate. The report asked NEPRA to submit a detailed report on implementation of directions of the committee regarding fuel agreement as billions of rupees of malpractices and kickbacks were involved. It said that in the next meeting, a representative from NAB be summoned and matter on malpractices, kickbacks, etc, be handed over to the anti-graft body. It also recommended that OGRA and OMC to provide details on issues of malpractices, kickbacks and rebates in furnace business, and the committee's recommendation that OCAC should use its power to curb such malpractices. The committee directed OGRA to serve a suspension notice on M/s Askar 1, who established petroleum pumps in purported violation of jurisdiction of its license.
PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar tabled a special report of the Functional Committee on Human Rights on procedure of filing mercy petition in the House on behalf of its Chairperson Nasreen Jalil, which recommended to the government to immediately and publicly disavow the policy decision not to grant mercy petitions, in addition to publishing data relating to the exercise of the President's power under Article 45 since December 2014. It called on the government to reform the processes of submission of mercy petition by the prison authority on behalf of death row prisoners, who lack legal representation and that the government should constitute an executive committee, designated with the consideration of mercy petitions. It should be forwarded all requests for mercy from prisoners by the superintendent jails along with complete jail and judicial record. It should also have powers to ask for additional information from respective authorities.
The committee recommended that the government should carefully consider the mercy petitions submitted on behalf of prisoners with serious mental or physical ill-health with a view to commuting their sentences. "If a mercy petition is rejected, the families of the convict should be immediately informed by the Ministry of Interior so that if they want to resubmit the petition on fresh ground, it could be done," it said.