News
Friday, July 27, 2012
PML-N comes down hard on SC over opp comments
* Ch Nisar asks how judges could make such statement about a party which had been raising voice for free judiciary
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday strongly criticised the reported remarks of some Supreme Court judges on the role of opposition during a recent debate on a bill to amend the contempt of court law.
While making their observations, the judges should also have taken the trouble to elaborate how the opposition with 90 members in the House of 342 could have stopped the passage of the bill, opposition leader in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said. “Whether it should have snatched it (the bill) from the minister’s hand and created a violent scene?” he questioned.
Expressing amazement over the remarks that opposition had violated the mandate of the people, Nisar asked how could such a statement be made about a party which had over the years upheld the banner for a free judiciary and rule of law in Pakistan.
“PML-N being the opposition party not only stood steadfast against the government’s efforts to amend the contempt law but used every political, legal and parliamentary avenue to prevent the government from passing the bill in the assembly,” he observed. Our members made speeches, protested, shouted and did everything short of taking up bamboo sticks in their hands to prevent the passage of the bill, he maintained.
Nisar advised the judges to enlighten the opposition where it had erred in coming up to their expectations before venting their feelings against it. If the government having the support of over 200 members was bent on passing the bill at all costs, there was little the opposition could do but walk out, he added.
He reminded the judges that walkout was the ultimate and most extreme form of dissent in parliamentary practice. “In most developed countries the government does not carry out legislation in absence of opposition,” he said.
He recalled that when the government was not willing to give time to the opposition for an proper discussion on the bill and insisted on passing the bill on the same day without duly discussing its different aspects, the opposition decided to walk out and disassociate itself from the entire “unethical exercise”.
By all parliamentary and democratic standards, Nisar added, legislation carried out in absence of the opposition was more questionable and controversial than that done in its presence in the House.
Referring to the judges’ remarks, he said that “passing sarcastic and less than accurate comments over the walkout without understanding parliamentary norms and practices is not only unfair and unjust but also beyond comprehension”.
The opposition leader said that in an environment where the government was engaged in a focused propaganda against the judiciary, the judges’ comments would be used by the government against the courts.
He expressed hope that the comments would be reviewed because “such sweeping and one-sided statements don’t strength dignity of the Supreme Court, nor do they ensure fairness and justice”.Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk