Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Opposition leaders fired a broadside against the government after the passage of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) related bills in the joint session of par-liament. They accused the treasury of trampling the democratic norms to impose black laws in the country.
Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Maulana As’adur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F),
former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others also accused Speaker Asad Qaiser of playing a partisan role.
“Today is a “darkest day” in democratic history of Pakistan,” Shehbaz Sharif, the president of the PML-N, told a joint press conference with other opposition leaders. “The proceedings of the House were trampled and the government
crossed the red lines today,” he added.
Shehbaz said that the government wanted to pass a black law that would allow arrest of any person without giving reason. He added for the first time in the country’s history, the opposition leader was not allowed to speak in the house.
“The opposition strongly condemns the government’s behaviour. Stopping the opposition leader from address the house was not the speaker’s authority. The speaker has disappointed everyone,” Shehbaz told reporters.
The opposition leader in the National Assembly said that so far, they had sided with the government in the interest of Pakistan. Now, he added, the all parties conference (APC) – scheduled for September 20 – would take the final decision on
the government’s behaviour. The PPP chief told the media persons that the only option left now was the no-confidence motion. He said that the government could have conducted the recount of the voting on the bills, but it did not do so for fear of
being exposed. “We had the right to state our position in the House. Stopping the opposition from speaking in the house is unconstitutional after the decision of the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The speaker has no right to stop the leader of the
opposition,” he said.
