News
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Midterm polls only solution to current crisis: Sanaullah* Punjab law minister says welfare of country more important than constitutional five-year term of government
Staff Report
LAHORE: Midterm elections are the only way and solution to come out of the current situation, especially the alleged charges of rulers’ corruption, Punjab Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said.
He made these comments while talking to journalists outside the Punjab Assembly, after attending the session on Wednesday.
To queries by the journalists, Sanaullah said welfare of the country was more important to his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), than the constitutional five-year-term of the government. The law minister said the biggest threat that Pakistan currently faced was corruption and the most serious corruption allegations had been levelled against President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minsiter Yousaf Raza Gilani and several other parliamentarian so midterm elections was the only way to stop the corruption.
“If corruption is not checked and stopped, democracy would be jeopardised in the process,” he added.
Sanaullah said the PML-N had been opposing the appointment of Deedar Hussain Shah as National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman on principle, but the policies of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had been dual. The law minister said his party wanted the government to complete its tenure, but after looking at the current situation in the country, it was not possible.
He urged the PPP’s leadership to correct its intentions for the nation’s sake.
On the alliance between the PPP and PML-N in Punjab, he said that although it was strong but some people had been trying to break it.
To another query, he said his party was not afraid of reopening of cases against Nawaz Sharif by the NAB chairman, but we want a transparent accountability process.
“The NAB chief should be neutral to ensure transparency in dispensation of justice,” he added.
Referring to Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khawaja Shairf’s appointment, the law minister said, “he had neither been appointed nor restored by the PML-N, hence this case
should not be compared to the appointment of the NAB chief.” To a query, the law minister admitted that the appointment of the former NAB chairman Saifur Rehman, belonging to the PML-N had also been controversial, and the issue had been correctly raised by the then opposition.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk