LAHORE  - Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah said on Friday that the issue of NAB chief’s appointment should not be politicised as both the government and the Opposition were having consultations to evolve consensus over one name out of four under consideration at the moment.
Talking to the media on his arrival at Lahore Airport, the Opposition leader expressed his optimism that consultation process between him and the Prime Minister would soon yield results.  He complained that the issue of NAB chief’s appointment was being politicised in utter disregard of the fact that it was of sensitive nature requiring utmost caution.  He said he had held five meetings with the Prime Minister so far on the matter and hoped the same would be sorted out in the coming meetings.
He said the process would take some time as present political leadership wanted to appoint the most competent persons to fill the vacant offices of Chief Election Commissioner and the NAB Chairman.
To a question, the Opposition leader said that new Army chief should be appointed on seniority basis without any favour or personal like or dislike. On targeted operations in Karachi, Khurshid Shah dispelled the impression that any specific political party was being targeted.
“People would have to think of themselves as Pakistanis in order to resolve the problems facing the country”, he observed. Shah said media depicted political affiliations of the terrorists but as a matter of fact nobody was ‘muhajir’ in the country. “Criminals have only one identity that was that they were just criminals”, he remarked and urged the people to adopt a national approach to tackle the current challenges.
To a question about hike in the power rates, he said that the government should not make such anti-people decisions which have to be taken back on the intervention by the Supreme Court and public pressure build by the media and Opposition parties.
He also opposed privatisation of government departments, stating the decision would create more unemployment in the country in a situation where the masses were already facing severe inflation.