PM says SC verdict to strengthen democracy

ISLAMABAD - The National Assembly on Monday unanimously passed resolution of condemnation on Gojra incident asking the federal and the Punjab government to unearth the real culprits behind the gory occurrence that earned a bad name for the country. Two separate resolutions with more or less same crux were moved by the Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, and PML-Q Parliamentary Leader in the National Assembly, Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, which were passed unanimously by the House after clubbing together on the intervention of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. Condemning the Gojra incident, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani told the National Assembly that he had talked to the Punjab Chief Minister, who had told him that a judicial commission had been formed, whose report, the PM said, would be shared with the House. He expressed his sorrow over the loss of innocent lives in the incident and said he had asked the Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti to assess the extent of the damage. The affectees will be compensated according to the report to be filed by the Minister, he stated. The resolution of condemnation passed by the House expressed grief and sorrow over the killings and urged the relevant authorities to take meaningful action against the culprits. It urged the government to ensure protection of the minorities in accordance with the sayings of the Quaid-e-Azam and 1973 Constitution. The resolution presented by PML-Q parliamentary leader says that the incident is one of the blackest spots in the human rights history of Pakistan and a violation of Quaid-e-Azams philosophy. The government has been urged in the PML-Q resolution to initiate firm action against the perpetrators of the incident and called upon the Punjab Government to proceed against the DCO and DPO as despite prior information by spy agencies they had not responded to protect the lives and properties of the people in the area. A number of legislators from either side of the divide including Asia Nasir, Pervaiz Khan Advocate, Abdul Qadir Khanzada, Marvi Memon, Nawab Yousaf Talpur, Maulana Atta-ur-Rehman, Shireen Arshad Khan, Bushra Rehman, Kashmala Tariq, Kamran Khan and Federal Minister for Housing and Works Rehmatullah Kakar strongly condemned the Gojra incident and asked the government to take strict action against the culprits of heinous crime. The Opposition (only PML-Q) also staged a token walkout from the National Assembly over the Gojra tragedy, urging the government to take stern action against the culprits behind the incident and to bring them to book. Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly, PML-Q Parliamentary Leader Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat strongly condemned the incident and expressed concern over the alleged negligence of the law enforcement agencies for not effectively controlling the situation. Gojra tragedy is a sensitive issue and the government should take it seriously, he added. He said that only passing a resolution of condemnation would not mitigate the minorities sufferings, rather there was a need for appropriate action to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future. Commenting on the Supreme Court verdict regarding the November 3 emergency, he said the apex court had clearly stated that it was the matter concerning the Parliament but it was performing the job. He said that the comment by the Supreme Court was the expression of no-confidence in the incumbent parliament. Faisal Saleh Hayat requested to keep the House in session until the resolution of all important national issues including 17th Amendment, November 3 steps, 58 (2) (b) and Charter of Democracy. He asked the parliamentarians to fulfil their responsibility otherwise no one could stop the path of military dictators. He asked the treasury benches to make the Parliament a meaningful body and expressed his serious concerns over the absence of the majority of ministers and lawmakers from the House. When someone wants to put something in the cold storage, he forms a committee to resolve the issue and the same is true with parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms, he noted. Later, PML-Q lawmakers staged a walkout from the House in protest of inappropriate action by law enforcement agencies in Gojra tragedy episode. On directives of the Deputy Speaker, Faisal Karim Kundi, Federal Minister for Labour and Manpower, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Minister for States and Frontier Region Najmuddin Khan, Minister for Food and Agriculture, Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Education Minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani brought PML-Q members back to the proceedings. Winding up the debate on Gojra incident, Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti said that it was a very shameful and painful act, which had been committed on the nod of those miscreants who wanted to derail interfaith harmony in the country. He told the House that President Asif Ali Zardari had taken strict notice of the gory incident and asked the authorities concerned to bring the culprits to book. President Asif Ali Zardari asked me to reach Gojra to console with the bereaved families, he added. The Minister said that all the political forces of the country should get united to defeat such extremist elements of the society who wanted to sabotage the agenda of peace and harmony in the country. He also requested the House to observe two-minute silence for innocent deceased men and women of Gojra, on which the House observed two-minute silence. Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Babar Awan informed the National Assembly that the issue of power crisis would be raised in the Lower House of Parliament through a motion to hold a threadbare debate. I announce on behalf of the government that during the current session, the power crisis will be brought in the House through a motion for holding debate, the Minister said. The National Assembly on Monday observed two-minute silence for former parliamentarian and Minister Rana Chandar Singh, who breathed his last on August 1, aged 78. When the proceedings of the Lower House of Parliament started, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan informed the House about the demise of senior politician and requested for two-minute silence and also for giving chance to parliamentary leaders to express their sentiments. After two-minute silence, Pakistan Muslim League MNA Riaz Pirzada said that late Chandar belonged to a historic family where Akbar-e-Azam came from. He said Singh has also the distinction to be the youngest parliamentarian in the House, adding that despite being from minority community, he was a very respectable and well-known figure in his constituency as well as the politicians. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief whip Sheikh Aftab said Chandar Singh lived his political as well as social life with simplicity and respect and never compromised the rules for his personal gains. Muttahida Qaumi Movement MNA Abdul Wasim said though he never met the deceased senior politician, he said he was a man of principles and had soft corner for the poor. Chief whip of Pakistan Peoples Party Syed Khurshid Shah said it was the sad moment when we lost a senior political figure who always fought for rights of the people as well as the betterment of minority community. The National Assembly also passed a bill to amend the Rulers of Acceding States (Abolition of Privy Purses and Privileges) Order, 1972. Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Babar Awan had moved the bill. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly said that the Supreme Court judgement would go a long way in strengthening the democratic institutions and block the way of any unconstitutional usurpation of the peoples right of governance. He said that for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the federal government had not supported the unconstitutional acts of a general who, under the garb of emergency, had virtually suspended the Constitution and sacked almost sixty judges of the superior courts and put them under house arrest who were, however, released forthwith on the very first day after the election of the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The sovereignty of the Parliament was established and appreciated by the honourable Supreme Court during the recent hearing of the cases by the 14-member bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan who acclaimed with appreciation the Parliament for not validating the unconstitutional acts of General Musharraf imposed on the 3rd of November, 2007 till the 15th of December, 2007, he added. He said that the Supreme Court in its landmark judgement had accredited the general elections of February 18, 2008, the government headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the oath of office administered to the democratically elected President of Pakistan, and all the four provincial assemblies and their governments. The Supreme Courts judgement while declaring the acts of Gen Musharraf as unconstitutional and illegal and declaring 103 judges as no more judges of the superior courts, however, affirmed the judgement and other day to day working of the judges/courts on the de facto doctrine being in public interest and to avoid chaos and confusion, he stated. He said that 37 presidential ordinances promulgated prior to the 3rd of November, 2007 and alike ordinances issued by the governors in their respective provinces which had been given permanency through the PCO by insertion of 270 AAA in the Constitution were, however, required to be placed before the Parliament/respective assemblies for confirmation or otherwise within 120 and 90 days respectively which period was to start from the date of pronouncement of judgement i.e. 31st of July, 2009. He said that the judgement of the Supreme Court upheld the supremacy of the Parliament and had given full credit to the stance of the present democratic government taken up before the apex court. It was sequel to the stance of the federal government that the chauvinistic designs of adventurers have been blocked by revisiting the judgements validating the acts of usurpers, he observed. He said that the Code of Conduct for judges had been amended notifying that any judge validating the unconstitutional acts of usurpers would also be liable for misconduct. Thus it is heartening that facilitators would also be collaborators and disrupting the constitutional rule/ democratic dispensation in future would be punishable, he stated. He said that the implementation of SC judgement had already started and Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani, who was one of the members of 14-member bench, rendering the judgment, had been sent back to the Sindh High Court and upon the advice of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, had been appointed as Chief Justice of the said court while Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali had been appointed as SC judge and administered oath on Monday. The Prime Minister said that 76 judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts had ceased to hold their offices sequel to the approval of the summary sent to the President of Pakistan in compliance of the aforesaid judgement. He said that it was the first time that the exchequer had not been burdened with a single penny. In high profile cases during all the previous governments, million of rupees have been spent on engaging the private counsels with hefty fees. The Attorney General of Pakistan Sardar Latif Ahmad Khosa alone appeared on behalf of the Federation in these cases before the SC bench without extra burden on the state, he told the House. Apprising the House of 15th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Sharm El Sheikh, the Prime Minister said that he had shared Pakistans perspective on ways of addressing the global financial and economic crisis, emphasising the need to avoid protectionism, ensure increased market access, and reform the international financial institutions comprehensively. I also suggested an 8-point programme of action for NAM to promote the objectives of peace and development at the international level, most of which were included in Summits final documents, he told the House. Before departure for Sharm El Sheikh, I had consulted and taken on board the President, national political leadership, both inside and outside the Parliament, and of the state institutions about my visit and meeting with the Indian Prime Minister. I am grateful for their highly positive response and the trust and confidence they reposed in me. It was on the strength of this political consensus that I conferred with Dr Manmohan Singh and conveyed our desire, for forward movement in Pakistan-India relations. I emphasised that the only way forward was dialogue, he stated. He said that his meeting with Dr Manmohan Singh was very cordial. I apprised him of the national consensus in Pakistan on moving towards normalisation of relations with India by settling all disputes and issues, particularly the Kashmir dispute and water issues, he said. He said that the joint statement reaffirmed Pakistans commitment to bring the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks to justice. The two countries also agreed to share in time, credible and actionable information on any future terrorist threats. I also expressed our serious concerns over Indian interference in Balochistan and other areas of Pakistan, he added. He said that the joint statement recognised that dialogue was the only way forward. Dr Manmohan Singh and I agreed that the real challenges were development and elimination of poverty, and we should work to eliminate the factors, that prevent our countries from realising their full potential. We agreed to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence, he told the House. He said that the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India would meet in New York on the sidelines of the UNGA in September 2009. Pakistans approach on relations with India is clear and consistent, supported by all stakeholders. We want to have a friendly, cooperative and good-neighbourly relationship based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and mutual interest. Pakistan is cognisant of the need for effectively addressing the issue of terrorism, which is a regional and global issue, he added. He reiterated his firm belief that Pakistan and India were both important countries in South Asia. We together could make a huge contribution to regional cooperation under SAARC, he stated.