ISLAMABAD – Demanding the government to take parliament into confidence over the mandate of the visit of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Ahmad Shuja Pasha to the US, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday said it seemed parliament and the government had been made redundant and the ISI was running the country.
“It is the function of parliament to run a government, but the ISI DG is in the US and it seemed they are running the government. If he has gone to the US to stop Washington from carrying out drone attacks, it is again the duty of parliament or the government to sort out such issues. The prime minister must take the House into confidence regarding the mandate of his ISI DG’s visit to the US,” Nisar said, adding that the US drones had again carried out an attack inside Pakistan.
He said he had raised the issue of increase in the prices of petroleum products, load shedding, Raymond Davis, drone attacks but always drew blank as the government never responded to the issues of public importance. “Why is the government silent on such issues? We want answers to these questions. The government must explain why subsidy cannot be given and if the House is not taken into confidence over such issues, we would feel forced to conclude that the government does not want to run parliament in a democratic manner. If the government continues to remain silent, we will protest which was,” Nisar threatened.
Nisar said parliament was the focus of the peoples’ expectations but the government had destroyed its sanctity as no one on the treasury benches respected the rules and ministers seldom appeared in the House. “The House has become a debating club and most of the members remain either silent or disinterested in the proceedings of the House and let me make clear we will not let the government convert this House into a rubber stamp or redundant institution,” Nisar said.
He also spoke about banning of a private TV channel by the government which Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan denied, saying the channel and PEMRA had a dispute over the violation of rules and the matter was sub-judice. The speaker referred the matter to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting.
She said the leader of opposition was also the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and he should call all private channels for being defaulters before teaching the government lessons on rule of law.
