Share this story!            

‘NRO a financial terrorism’

* Shujaat says party will oppose NRO
* Musharraf’s stubbornness, not PML-Q’s role, resulted in NRO’s promulgation

By Irfan Bukhari

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) on Monday called the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) “financial terrorism”.

After chairing a PML-Q parliamentary party meeting, party President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said his party would oppose the NRO if the controversial ordinance were tabled in parliament. He asked parliamentarians to rise above political affiliations and vote against the NRO if it was presented in parliament.

He said the PML-Q’s tenure had been excluded from the NRO on his insistence. “I also got the mention of the corporate sector deleted from the NRO draft,” he added. Earlier, during the party meeting, Shujaat and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi apprised PML-Q members of the circumstances that had led to the NRO’s promulgation. “They said they had no role in the promulgation and Pervez Musharraf’s stubbornness had resulted in the promulgation of the NRO,” a PML-Q MNA told Daily Times.

“The Chaudhry brothers said the promulgation of the presidential ordinance was itself a proof that parliament was not ready to pass it in the form of a legislative bill,” the sources said.

Former president Farooq Leghari was also present. “This parliament is going to make history and whoever votes either for the black law or abstains from voting will invite public wrath," Leghari said. He said Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief Fazlur Rehman had informed him that his party would consider abstaining from voting on the NRO. He said, “The government may try to bulldoze the NRO with a surprise move.”

Leghari said the PML-Q had also opposed the NRO and that was the reason Musharraf could not get parliamentary approval for it in 2007. "General Musharraf had introduced the NRO as he wanted to get rid of the PML-Q and get the backing of the PPP and other political parties. I had also objected to the law and had told former prime minister Shaukat Aziz at a public meeting in DG Khan that there could not be a worse piece of legislation," he added. Leghari said the government should have held a referendum on the Kerry-Lugar law as well as the NRO.

Home | National

Share this story!