Khawaja Asif wants NA committee formed to 'hold judiciary accountable'
Pakistan
Trend of dethroning PMs should end, says Asif
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday demanded the National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to constitute a committee to hold the judiciary accountable.
His statement comes as the Supreme Court had ordered the NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to furnish it with the assembly’s proceedings on session that had clipped CJP’s powers to take suo-motu notices. The Speaker's office later turned down the request.
Addressing the NA session, he said they should be brought under trial whether they were alive or dead. “The parliament must rise to the occasion as people do not want it to be held hostage by a handful of people”, he added.
He claimed that the judiciary had committed cardinal sins that were not tolerable. “Do not force me to spill the beans,” he added.
Facilitators connived in 2018 and were doing so again in contemporary times, he lamented. “The trend of dethroning prime ministers should end,” he added.
The judiciary should be questioned for for hanging former PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and disqualifying former PMs Yusuf Raza Gillani and Nawaz Sharif.
The minister said Pakistani people have given us the mandate but questions had been arising on our mandate throughout history. “The people have been renewing the faith us,” he added. No one did as much service to the country, he said, as politicians did.
Mr Asif went on to say SC had sought proceedings from the NA adding that its proceedings were not a secret. “Furnish them with the record as they seek,” he added.
He asked if the NA was liable to get the court proceedings when two judges, who were reinstated to the bench [hearing after they even had recused themselves, gave the verdict by 3-2.
The minister continued by saying that clashes between political parties were natural to politics but 15 people in the judiciary were at daggers drawn to each other. “They should hold negotiations among themselves first,” he added.
It was not SC’s prerogative to instruct someone adding that it was nowhere written in the constitution that the court would hold “panchayats”, he said. “We have to defend ourselves [the parliament],” he added.
The minister said Asif said former PM Bhutto was hanged and PM Sharif was disqualified. “We should strive to protect the parliament irrespective of the party affiliations,” he added.
Would anyone seek proceedings of the tenures when individuals took the reins of the country, he asked. “What will the SC do to purify its past and keep track of its history,” he added.
Former PMs Mr Sharif and Benazir Bhutto signed the charter of democracy and democracy worked however it did, he said. “But this institution wants the present assembly to dissolve itself before its tenure ends,” he added.
Compare the amenities and pays of judges and parliamentarians, he said. “I and my father have been in the assembly for 72 years but did not earn a single plot,” he added. Had they been ruling for 72 years, he claimed, they would have earned multiple plots by now.
Tell me how many judges were disqualified, he asked. Without naming all, he said, “Those who have even died must also be held accountable for abrogating the constitution and committing treachery”. At least summon them to the parliament, he demanded.
The parliament would not give in, he vowed.
He urged the parliament to act by saying that the parliament should not wait for September’s appointments. “We went beyond our limits and appointed two judges of their choice to appease them,” he added.
He said they degraded Justice Isa and members of his family. “Introspect yourself before you ask us to respect the judiciary,” he added. Don’t you remember what they did to Justice Shaukat Ali, he asked.
