Disgruntled MP slams Elahi’s deputy PM post

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid lawmaker Riaz Hussain Pirzada on Friday criticised the appointment of a deputy prime minister in the country, saying there was no mention of such an office in the constitution of 1973.
Pirzada’s statement in the NA reveals the rifts within the PML-Q whose major demand of supporting the Pakistan People’s Party-led government was the appointment of its leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi as the deputy prime minister. Pirzada was among those PML-Q ministers who did not take oath in the new cabinet formed under Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. On a point of order during Friday’s NA session, he questioned the law under which the president introduced the office of the deputy prime minister. He said according to Article 95, in absence of the prime minister, the most senior federal minister should be asked to perform duties in his place, but after the 18th Amendment, the office of senior minister had also been eliminated. Pirzada also criticized the presence of certain advisers to the prime minister in the National Assembly. He said advisers to the PM were not allowed to sit in the National Assembly with MNAs, as according to the constitution, they were not answerable to parliament. He noted that the violation of this principle was tantamount to challenging powers of the NA speaker. The PML-Q leader said how could an adviser to the PM sit in the House without taking oath. He said if the practice continued, even a15-year-old lad or a NATO general could also be made the prime minister. He accused the government of “inventing certain offices”.
Pirzada said almost everybody had got a flagged vehicle to travel. At this, Defence Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said the prime minister had the prerogative of hiring advisers for consultation and the government had not taken any unconstitutional step. The defence minister said the advisers could not exercise their vote during polling in the National Assembly. Pirzada then asked for the speaker’s ruling about presence of advisers in the Lower House, as it was a very sensitive matter. Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi ruled that it was a serious issue and would be discussed in the chamber of the NA speaker. Kundi said no strangers but federal ministers, guests accompanying MNAs and the concerned staff sat in the National Assembly lobbies. He said if the chief whips of all parliamentary parties took a decision in this regard, the advisers would be prohibited to sit in the lobbies. Pirzada said everybody was bound to respect the sanctity of the National Assembly in accordance with the rules and regulations. “No one should shout slogans in the House and should not speak loudly for recording his criticism,” he added.