Our Parliament Correspondent
Islamabad
Finally laying out his condition for addressing the parliament on the Panama issue, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Saturday that he will only do so when the parliament is completely empty.
“And by parliament, I mean the full, constitutional definition of the word,” he said, in a press release. “Neither the National Assembly members, nor the senators or even the president should be there when I speak on the issue.”
“I respect the parliament and will plead my case there. I urge all the opposition parties as well as the allies on the treasury benches to respect these conditions and go to Kohsar market or Pir Sohawa or even their own constituencies while I present my case in the parliament,” he said. “Parliament is supreme. I will hide nothing from it.”
Information minister Pervez Rashid, when asked whether the clerical staff and assembly secretariat members will be allowed in the parliament during the PM’s address, said, “They won’t be allowed in the hall itself, but they would be present outside in the lobby, of course. We are not an unreasonable government.”
