Daily Times

The National Assembly Friday witnessed a heated debate on alleged backing of ruling PTI on talks behind a systematic and planned campaign for imposition of some kind of emergency in the country in favor of presidential form of government.

The issue of shortage of urea, gas, wheat, rapid increase in unemployment and inflation also came under discussion.

The opposition, especially the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) strongly condemned the campaign terming it ‘planned and planned’. Speaking in the National Assembly, PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal said the placement of any unconstitutional system would not be accepted at any cost. “The rumors behind introducing the presidential system in the country are highly objectionable and we will oppose any such system to any extent,” he reaffirmed.

“Our constitution does not allow a presidential system”, he said and added that this was only the choice of dictators who had broken the constitution and afterwards the nation paid a heavy price for this. “10 years of dictatorship of Ayub Khan, 4 years of Yahaya Khan, 11 years of Ziaul Haq and 9 years of Musharraf ruined the country,” he recalled saying the nation, which was already passing through very tough economic circumstances, now could not afford any such proposal anymore.

He said it wasted a huge time in such experiments, adding that a true democratic system was the only way to bring the country out of an overwhelming economic crisis. “We do not need any enemy if we cannot decide in 75 years as to what sort of system we need.”

He also wondered as to who was floating news about bringing a presidential form of government in the country. Debating some other points, the PML-N leader said, “We are forced to listen to each and every ineligible minister of the PTI government. Those who have failed are giving us lecturers here on the floor of the house,” he claimed.

He regretted that those who could not even provide gas to the people were standing here talking about the country’s economic conditions. Agha Rafi Ullah of PPP endorsed the points raised by the PML-N leader. Without mentioning the name of any institution or group, he said, “It seems a planned campaign, as costly advertisements are also broadcasting on TV screens and carried by newspapers as well.”

The PPP leader demanded an impartial and comprehensive inquiry to determine the ‘real culprits’ behind such unconstitutional acts and they should be punished in accordance with the law. In response, Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar said the opposition parties had no courage to listen to the PTI government. He accused the opposition lawmakers of being ‘Pakistan Studies’ lecturers on the floor of the house. “We heard an hour-long Pakistan Studies lecture by the opposition. PML-N bankrupted the country and achieved only 5.4 percent growth.”

He also categorically stated that gas theft will not be tolerated in any part of the country and expressed satisfaction that Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited had significantly reduced its system losses from 12.5 percent to 8.5 percent over the last three years.