PML-N to move court against Bokhari’s appointment: Nisar

Expressing serious reservations over the government’s decision of giving the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday announced that he would challenge Fasih Bokhari’s appointment as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman in the Supreme Court. “After thorough consultations within the party (PML-N), the party’s leadership has asked me to challenge Bokhari’s appointment … my lawyer Akram Sheikh will file a writ petition on my behalf in the Supreme Court on Saturday,” he said while addressing a press conference at Punjab House.
He said President Asif Ali Zardari was the main obstacle in the way of an independent NAB. “If some independent and impartial man becomes NAB chief, he will first of all open corruption cases against President Zardari and can write letter to Swiss authorities for reopening money laundering cases against the president,” Nisar said. He said Zardari had violated four verdicts of the SC in appointing Bokhari as NAB chairman. “President Zardari adopted the same procedure in appointment of Bokhari as he previously adopted in the case of Deedar Hussain Shah… now the apex court will interpret the word ‘consultation’ more categorically,” he said.
MFN STATUS TO INDIA: He also opposed the government’s haste in deciding to give the MFN status to India. “If the government intends to give India MFN status, it should first bring the issue in parliament for debate … we have serious reservations over the government’s decision and will take up the issue in the next sessions of both Houses and every other available forum,” he announced. The opposition leader alleged that former law minister Dr Babar Awan was creating hurdles through the Law Ministry in giving legal cover to recently appointed members of the Election Commission of Pakistan. “Under the 18th Amendment, we (opposition leader and prime minister) agreed to names of four members of the ECP whose names were also approved by the parliamentary committee, but since then they have not been given legal cover by the government due to delaying tactics of the law Ministry,” he said. “I also talked to Prime Minister Gilani on phone on Wednesday night and he assured me after expressing his astonishment on the issue that the problem would be resolved without further delay… if legislation is required to remove some legal complications in giving legal cover to new Election Commission constituted under the 18th Amendment, presidential ordinance can be promulgated,” he proposed.