Nation, political parties must rise to protect parliament
 

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ISLAMABAD: Members of the Senate and National Assembly from both sides of the aisle on Tuesday asked the leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) to refrain from destabilising the country.

They said that the nation and political parties should rise to save the sovereignty and sanctity of parliament. They said both the agitating parties would **t be allowed to paralyse the state.The National Assembly continued discussion on the political situation in the country while suspending business of the Private Members Day.

Taking part in the debate, Abdul Rahim Mandokhel said democracy had been achieved after a long struggle and a few thousand people could **t derail the democratic system. “It is the responsibility of the government and the opposition parties to protect the Constitution and parliament and counter every undemocratic move,” he said.

Imran Zafar Leghari felt that the PTI and PAT were working on a specific agenda to destabilise the country. He urged the government to consider their constitutional demands and condemned Imran Khan’s an**uncement to start the civil disobedience movement.

He urged the PTI leadership to serve the people in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and make it a model province saying there are some elements who do **t want democracy to flourish. In a lighter tone, the PPP MNA asked the media to give little coverage to the marches as the nation was fed up with the situation. He said instead of showing the sit-ins, the media should telecast drama ‘Mera Sultan’ so that the people could enjoy it. Many parliamentarians thumped their desks in support.

Dr. Zulfikar Bhatti termed the Azadi March and Inqalabi March and sit-ins as political terrorism. He said specific sites should be designated for holding protest rallies and sit-ins in big cities so that the common people and business activities should **t suffer.

Ayesha Syed stressed the need for resolution of problems through parliament. She said we should work for the supremacy of the Constitution and progress of the country and counter every effort, which is against the Constitution and democracy.

Mian Abdul Mannan of the PML-N, who belongs to the business community, said taxpayers had rejected the call of PTI chairman for civil disobedience. “The PTI workers are fed up with their leader’s undemocratic attitude,” the ruling party’s parliamentarian claimed. He said it was **t a matter of four constituencies but the protesting parties were working against the process of development and progress in the country.

Shahida Rehmani described the protest marches as a big conspiracy against democracy. She said action should be taken against the PTI leadership for **t safeguarding the Constitution under which they had taken oath, saying the PTI should support Operation Zarb-e-Azb and help the IDPs.

Kiran Haider said she had never heard such ugly language being used by the leadership of the protesting parties.Abdul Qahar Wadan said it was the beauty of democracy that Azadi and Inqilab marches were being held in the capital; such things could **t have happened in dictatorship. He said the demands of protesting parties are undemocratic and unconstitutional.

Kamal Khan Chang said efforts should be made to hold dialogue with the protesting parties for resolving the situation. But he said if they are **t ready for dialogue, then action should be taken against them to establish the writ of law.

Dr. Ibadullah said Imran Khan had been changing his statements every day since the start of his long march. He urged the senior parliamentarians to persuade the PTI chairman to return to parliament and play his role for democracy.

Maulana Ameer Zaman said it was unconstitutional that the chief minister of a province was taking part in a long march against the prime minister. He said the armed forces are fighting against the terrorists in **rth Waziristan who do **t accept the Constitution and parliament saying action should also be taken against those who are talking against the Constitution and parliament.

The JUI-F member urged the prime minister **t to accept the unconstitutional demands of the protesting parties.Meanwhile, responding to a call attention **tice, the Minister of State for Interior Balighur Rehman said the government was taking different steps to address the increasing trend of use of narcotics among the youth in the country.

The **tice was moved by Ms. Rida Khan of the PML-N and others. He said the UN had declared Pakistan a poppy free country and Pakistan was maintaining this status. He said the neighbouring country Afghanistan was number one in poppy cultivation and due to a porous border, 40 percent of ***** being smuggled from that country passed through Pakistan.

The minister of state said according to a survey of the United Nations ****** on ***** and Crimes, there are 6.7 million identified drug users in the country. Balighur Rehman said that with the cooperation of the provincial governments, efforts are being made to include character-building subject in the syllabus, which would help discourage use of ***** among the youth.

APP adds: Separately, Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq, hailing the opposition’s role in strengthening democracy in the current political scenario, said that all democratic forces in the country are united for strengthening parliament, democracy and supremacy of the Constitution.

Speaking in the Senate, Zafarul Haq said that the democratic forces were on the same page to steer the country out of the quagmire. He said that civil disobedience was always against the country and **t the government. He lauded the opposition’s role in the current political situation and said that the nation would remember their positive role for the cause of democracy.

Zafarul Haq said their role will be remembered as a milestone in the democratic history of the country. He said that it was the duty of the opposition to pinpoint the government’s mistakes for sake of betterment.

He said that even the prime minister visited Imran Khan in Bani Gala and offered to constitute an electoral reforms committee to ensure electoral transparency. Later, the committee was constituted for electoral reforms, he said and added that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf members were also included in the committee.

Zafarul Haq said that prime minister himself wrote letters to the Speaker National Assembly and chairman Senate for **minating members to the committee. The committee was constituted to ensure electoral procedure in a more transparent manner and address all the complaints regarding the election process.

Zafarul Haq said those who supported Gen (retd) Musharraf during his referendum were united to save him from court decisions. These people wish to roll back the whole democratic process, he said. Later, the House adjourned to meet again on Friday morning at 10:00am.

Senator Raza Rabbni vowed to stand guard against any move to derail democracy and wrapping up the system.Speaking on a motion moved to discuss the political situation in the country, Raza Rabbani said that the present situation was alarming and posed serious challenges for parliament and democracy. He said that the government should have taken the situation seriously though we had repeatedly requested it to engage the protesting parties in dialogue.

He said that the situation which has emerged today could have been diluted through parliament and the elected representatives. He said that it did **t suit the PTI leadership to show ** confidence in parliament and termed it as a fake parliament.

He said the combined opposition in the Senate stands united for supremacy of the Constitution and parliament. We the senators want to send a clear message that if anybody involves in adventurism against democracy and parliament, all political forces will stand against that move.