Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif approved on Thursday the unanimous decision of the PML-N’s joint parliamentary party to launch a decisive movement against the government once the scorching summer ended.
“The PML-N’s joint parliamentary party decided that Nawaz would continue addressing public gatherings across the country to prepare the ground by mobilising the people and once the scorching summer ends, the party will launch a decisive movement to topple the government and would not allow it to complete its tenure,” said a reliable source, who asked not to be named.
The source said Nawaz and other top PML-N leaders were in agreement that giving more time to the government would cause destruction of state institutions. The source said it was also decided in the meeting that the PML-N would resort to strong protests in the House during the budget session. “Instead of staging walkouts and observing boycotts, the PML-N parliamentarians would protest vehemently in the House against the government’s failure to implement the unanimous resolution passed by parliament in the wake of the Abbottabad operation,” said the source, adding that the party also decided that the PML-N would close all doors of negotiations with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and never trust its commitments.
Nawaz told reporters after chairing the meeting that the PML-N would not tolerate the government’s attitude of undermining parliament’s supremacy anymore. “We will play our role inside and out of parliament,” he said. On a question about the possibility of PML-N parliamentarians resigning from parliament over the issue, he said all options were open for his party. “We are ready for every sacrifice to uphold the sanctity of parliament,” he said.
Rejecting the prime minister’s independent commission to probe the Abbottabad operation, the PML-N chief said the commission should be formed under the true letter and spirit of the unanimous resolution passed by the joint sitting of parliament.
“It is a unilateral commission for which the prime minister did not consult the opposition leader. The prime minister did not even respond to the letter sent to him by Chaudhry Nisar, let alone consult him,” he said. He said the unanimous resolution passed after hectic negotiations had authorised the leader of the House and leader of opposition to set up the commission in consultation with each other. “They had to consult on the composition, terms of reference and modalities of the commission,” he said.
“Formerly, the PML-N had demanded a commission headed by the chief justice of Pakistan and having chief justices of the four provinces and the Islamabad High Court as its members… but we withdrew from our stance for the sake of unanimity in the joint sitting of parliament,” he said.
Nawaz said the government had not only avoided consulting the opposition leader but also had not consulted those who were made commission members.
Approving the PML-N’s joint parliamentary party decision, he said the party had decided that the government would be asked to form an independent commission to probe the Pakistan Naval Station (PNS) Mehran attack and the murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad.
“These commissions, too, should be formed in consultation with the opposition leader,” he demanded. He also demanded the government make the investigation report of Wali Khan Babar’s murder public. “We are keenly watching investigations into the Kharotabad incident and the inquiry into the incident that caused embarrassment for the whole nation should be transparent,” he added.
When suggested that his party was reluctant to take any extreme steps because of the threat of mid-term elections, which the PML-N was not prepared for, he said every political party stood prepared for any situation. “We are also ready for every situation,” he said.
Nawaz said that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s concerns over corruption in Pakistan during her recent visit were a source of shame for the whole nation. “She was not talking about corruption at the level of patwaris and SHOs… definitely she was talking about corruption at the top level,” he said, adding that people were fed up with the government as it had miserably failed to address the issues of inflation, unemployment and power shortage.
Earlier, a delegation of the PML-N led by Nawaz called on President Asif Ali Zardari at the Aiwan-e-Sadr to offer condolences for the death of Zardari’s father.