Ch Nisar says new NRO ready to bail Q-League out

ISLAMABAD (The News): The Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, says joining of the federal cabinet by the Chaudhrys of Gujrat and their colleagues will be a repetition of what happened a few years ago when a failing dictator conceived and then signed the notorious National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) signed the notorious National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

“The idea then was to help save Asif Ali Zardari and Benazir Bhutto from a host of corruption cases under process and bolster the strength of a failing government,” he told The News.

In exactly the same manner, the opposition leader said, another NRO has been conceived by President Zardari and PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to save Moonis Elahi from the arms of law and the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) case and, at the same time, strengthen the Zardari government, which is on its knees because of poor governance and corruption. “Just as the first NRO was thrown out, the new broth is also doomed to fail.”

To a question, Chaudhry Nisar said that far from being unnerved by this political development, his PML-N is quite relieved and satisfied because the choice for people of Pakistan has now become very clear. The next elections will be fought between Asif Zardari and his corruption-tainted cohorts, including the Chaudhrys on the one hand and the PML-N on the other, he believed.

But in the process, he said, truth is the biggest casualty and added that it was indeed a travesty of all norms of good polity and of honesty that the PPP and PML-Q were coming together in a blatant and crude show of political opportunism and self-interest.

The opposition leader asked “inspite of having been at each other’s throat until very recently and also having blamed each other for the murder of each other’s leaders, from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) to Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi and right up to Benazir Bhutto, isn’t it a joke on the people of Pakistan and indeed with ZAB’s spirit that Asif Zardari is going to ostensibly clear the name of ZAB on the one hand, and on the other, hugging and befriending the very family which was in the forefront of the hanging of the PPP founder?”

He said: “It is no secret that Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi was amongst the leading supporters of General Ziaul Haq in the entire tragic episode and his family probably still retains the pen that the general had used to sign ZAB’s death warrants. It would be in the fitness of things and reflection of double faced policies of Asif Zardari that this pen should be presented to him by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain,” he said.

Answering another question, Chaudhry Nisar said there was absolutely no confusion in the PML-N’s stance on the creation of new provinces. “We are not against formation of more provinces, including Bahawalpur, Saraiki and Hazara,” he said adding that his party strongly believes that this issue of utmost importance must be handled and examined within the framework of the Constitution after due deliberations by all the political forces.

“It is too sensitive a matter to be used as a ploy for getting votes. We will support all such proposals if they are brought before proper forums through due constitutional process,” he said.(Courtesy: The News)

Posted in: Pakistan