Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan on Monday said the government ministers took dictation from the military during the in-camera sitting of parliament over the Abbottabad incident.
“During the joint sitting, some ministers frequented my chamber for consultations on the draft resolution, but when I came into the House, they were not present there. The PM was sitting on his seat. I first thought they were consulting President Asif Ali Zardari, but I later came to know that the president was abroad. However, I learnt that the missing ministers were taking the military top brass on board on the text of the resolution.
That was quite a shame for the whole parliament,” Nisar said in his speech on the federal budget 2011-12 in the National Assembly. He said the government had miserably failed to achieve targets set for the current financial year 2010-11. “No aspect of this budget deserves appreciation and desk thumping…The government did not incorporate PML-N’s recommendations in the budget in the last two years,” he said, adding that instead of “babus”, the budget should be made in the House by the people’s representatives. Nisar proposed setting of a monitoring committee of the House to ensure implementation on budgetary proposals and submit a report in the House after every three months.
He said the rulers were running the affairs of state in Nero’s manner. “I admit that the PML-N’s protest during budget speech was somewhat harsh, but we were helpless as the treasury is continuously ridiculing the parliament,” he said. The opposition leader said the masses had not awarded the country to President Zardari on contract. “He (President Zardari) has not won contract from the masses to destroy the country…He has no contract of trampling parliament’s supremacy and ridiculing the judiciary…he also has no right to sell the country’s interests to foreigners,” he said. Sharing some other details of the in-camera joint sitting of parliament, the opposition leader said he had been hurt by some parliamentarians flattering military officials in the session. “When I challenged some military officers on a few points, I was booed by the treasury lawmakers,” he said, adding that the unanimous resolution passed by parliament had been rubbished after Hillary Clinton’s visit to the country.
