News
Thursday, June 20, 2013
PML-N agrees to work hand-in-hand with PTI* Nisar agrees to all demands made by Imran Khan in first NA appearance
* Imran urges military-civil unity against US policies
* Appeals CJP to take notice of poll rigging
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Wednesday agreed to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s request that all sides should work together to end the crises facing the country.
Immediately after taking oath from Sardar Ayaz Sadiq who defeated him in the general elections, the PTI chief reiterated his oft-repeated policy and urged the PML-N government to disengage from America’s “war on terror”. He felicitated PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on becoming the prime minister. He said that nations cannot prosper without access to a fair justice system and added that majority of the problems in Pakistan were due to injustices prevailing in society.
The first encounter of arch rivals PML-N and PTI in the House after elections ended well when senior PML-N leader and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan termed the long speech of Imran as from a “statesman” than a political leader. Nisar agreed to back the electoral reforms bill proposed by Imran to make the elections transparent and assured that his party would support the bill from opposition parties.
Moreover, the PTI chief opposed the proposed increase in taxes announced in the recent budget, saying that it would only lead to more problems. He said that policies would have to be adopted collectively to tackle the national issues, and added that terrorism cannot be eliminated unless it is not dealt with at the grass roots level. Imran noted that the policies adopted to deal with terrorism were hypocritical from the very start and
the war was fought based
on lies.“Due to drone attacks on our territory, we have become associated with the US war and are referred to as their agents,” the PTI chief said and opined that if the motive of jihad is to be taken away from the militants then Islamabad should distance itself from the US. He urged military-civil unity against the US policies. Imran expressed his reservations on the results of general elections. However, he declared that his party accepted them for the sake of democracy. He appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) and the election commission to hold an inquiry and verify the votes cast through thumb impressions.
“This is the biggest robbery and we expect the CJP to take notice,” he said. On corruption, he called for de-linking NAB from the government, saying the institution would not be able to carry out accountability of the sitting ministers. He suggested brining a conflict of interest law for good governance. Imran said that he would back the government on national issues, but warned of tough opposition whenever the public money is wasted and national interest compromised.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan responded to Imran Khan’s speech and welcomed him in the House and stated that he and his party are happy him to see in the House after going through a tragedy and agreed to the PTI chief’s observations that all sides would have to work jointly to end the crises. He said that government is ready for verification of votes through thumb impressions to resolve the issue once and for all. On terrorism, he disclosed that the government is formulating a working paper on it with the consultation of armed forces and security agencies. Speaking on accountability, Nisar said he supports Imran on an accountability commission and the government wants to appoint such a person as head of NAB whose credibility is unquestionable. He also proposed formation of a parliamentary committee to oversee the conduct of lawmakers.
Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah also added his voice to the chorus of national consensus when he said that he prayed that this spirit prevails in the House for the sake of national interest. Earlier, the MQM staged a token out from the session against the killing of its workers in Karachi.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk