News
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Speaker’s ruling on PM can’t be challenged: Kaira* Information minister says speaker followed constitution
* Her impartial role in House known fact
* SC did not disqualify PM; PML-N not accepting facts
Daily Times Monitor
ISLAMABAD: Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira on Friday said the National Assembly speaker was custodian of a sovereign House which represented the will of the people, and under the constitution, the speaker’s ruling on the issue of disqualification of a member of the House could not be challenged.
Speaking in a private television channel’s talk show, Kaira said the National Assembly speaker being the custodian of “mother of all institutions” had taken the decision on the reference against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani under the constitutional provisions and she had made up her mind after taking advice from senior lawyers.
The information minister said it was a known fact that despite being a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) member, the speaker had always remained impartial in conducting business in the House and all the political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), had accepted the speaker’s bipartisan role during the last four years.
The minister said the speaker consulted senior lawyers who advised her not to forward the reference to the Election Commission against the prime minister.
Responding to a question, the minister said the speaker had right to take a decision on the reference, that is why the reference had been sent to her and the constitution had given her 30 days to take a decision on any such reference. “If her role was that of a post office, why 30 days had been given to her to make a decision,” the minister questioned.
Kaira said, “All political forces, except for some members of the PML-N, were convinced that the prime minister was legitimate chief executive of the country and had the right to file an appeal against the court order.”
He said the apex court also had not disqualified the prime minister and rather a specific political party was repeatedly stating not to accept the hard facts. “Strangely, the PML-N leadership accepted the speaker’s discretionary powers in reference against Makhdoom Javed Hashmi but now they are bent upon contradicting their own stance in the prime minister’s case,” said the minister.
He said all the state institutions, including judiciary, and the international community accepted the prime minsiter as an elected chief executive of the country but the PML-N leadership was adamant to distort this fact and question his authority.
About President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Chicago to represent Pakistan at NATO summit, he said, “The president presented Pakistan’s case on the resumption of NATO supplies at NATO summit in a very courageous manner and highlighted the nations’s principled stand on various issues related to NATO in very clear terms.”
Kaira said that unfortunately at the time of his departure, certain newspapers and TV channels had stated that the president would announce resumption of NATO supplies during his address at the summit, which proved just a figment of their imagination.
The minister said the president reiterated the stance taken by parliament at NATO summit by saying that the guidelines given by parliament were binding for the government.
Kaira also said the decision that the president should visit Chicago was taken at a meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) and it was endorsed by the federal cabinet.
To a question, he said the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to Pakistan would prove very fruitful. About the Turkish prime minister’s advice to the opposition not to try to topple the government but guide it, he said the leader had given the advice keeping in mind his own experience as a prime minister.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk