Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Criticising Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for giving a false statement in Parliament, opposition parties in the Lower House on Monday told the Premier to step down and nominate another one from his party for the slot of premiership, failing which the entire Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would have to face humiliation.

Members of the National Assembly on Monday resumed discussion on the Panama Papers issue on points of order after last Thursday’s untoward incident.

Opposition members, including those belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) expressed their views in the NA, and said that after giving a false statement in parliament, the Premier could no longer be called ‘sadiq and ameen’.

All the opposition members who submitted the privilege motion informed the House that they would not withdraw their motion against the premier, who gave contradictory statements in the Parliament House and the Supreme Court.

Awami Muslim League leader Sheikh Rashid told the PM, “Being your old friend, I suggest stepping down and nominating another one from your party as the PM.”

He said that neither the first Qatari letter nor the second one could save the PM in the Panama case. Over a wrong statement in the NA, Rashid said if 16 MNAs could be disqualified under articles 62 and 63 of the constitutions then why not the Prime Minister.

He also questioned how the Premier’s underage children became billionaires while other people’s children could not. He also asked the government to challenge the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), British broadcaster BBC Urdu and the Germany media over disclosure of PM’s assets abroad if they were wrong. Supporting Sheikh Rashid, PML-Q leader Tariq Bashir Cheema said that the Premier had breached the privilege of the House while giving a wrong statement regarding the Panama case.

He said that government institutions like the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had become redundant, and there was no justice for the poor.

PPP leader Naveed Qamar claimed that after taking oath in the House, all parliamentarians promised that they would speak the truth. He regretted that the PM gave a wrong statement in the assembly, and demanded that the PM should come forward and clarify his position in Parliament.

PTI leader Shireen Mazari advised the PML-N not to make a joke of Parliament. She said PTI would pursue the privilege motion submitted in Parliament against the PM. Jamshed Dasti said if “we were in a civilised country, the PM would have been in jail” by now.

Earlier, Naveed Qamar termed Thursday’s NA ruckus a shameful act. He said he had been a member of the august House for the last 28 years, and never saw such an unfortunate incident. He suggested that “red lines” should be identified and never be crossed at any cost. He said it was the duty of every member to respect the sanctity of the House.

Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch endorsed the viewpoint of Naveed Qamar and told the House that the Premier had strictly directed the parliamentarians not to cross the red lines that had already been mentioned in the Rules and Procedure of the House. The august House represented the will of 200 million people, and what happened last Thursday was very bad and highly regrettable, he said. He also accepted that the government had more responsibility than the opposition during the NA proceedings. He said the speaker had a very important role, and urged the members to follow his directives.

When the opposition members concluded their speeches and Abdul Qadir Baloch was given the floor to respond from the government side, PTI MNA Imran Khattak pointed out the lack of quorum, which compelled the deputy speaker to adjourn the proceeding until today (Tuesday) at 10:30am.