Opposition pledges support for Jamali

By Shahzad Raza

ISLAMABAD: The Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) on Monday expressed serious concerns about rumours that Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali would be dismissed and pledged that it would not let the Jamali government fall.

The Opposition specified that any attempt to remove Mr Jamali through a no-confidence motion would be made unsuccessful. It asked the treasury members how they could even think about casting votes against the person they had unanimously elected.

“Why is the process of backstabbing the prime minister continuing? Today you are praising him, then how can you cast votes against him tomorrow,” questioned Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan of the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) during the debate on the 2004-2005 budget.

Deputy Parliamentary Leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Hafiz Hussain Ahmed claimed that two resignations had been prepared for the prime minister. “We hope that instead of handing in those resignations, Mr Jamali will bring “another paper” out of his pocket,” he said without explaining what he meant by “another paper.”

“We don’t want anything supra-Parliament. We are with you Mr Speaker and with you Mr Jamali,” Mr Ahsan stated. Colouring his speech with couplets from poets like Shaikh Saadi, the PPPP leader mocked some senior members of the ruling coalition.

Without naming anyone, he said that people had the habit of changing loyalties with the inception of every new government since that of the late Ziaul Haq. “Instead of setting examples for parliamentary supremacy and civil rule, you are giving the wrong message to young parliamentarians,” he said.

Exploring the cause behind the increasing defence expenditures since the first martial law in the country in 1958, he said Pakistan was converted from a welfare state to a “national security” state.

He argued that the policy of being hostile towards neighbours was adopted to justify the presence of the military in politics and for the continuous increases in the defence budget.

He told the House that in 1969, General Sher Ali formulated the philosophy that the armed forces were the custodians of the ideological and geographical frontiers of the country. He said that the philosophy had led to terrorism and racism in the country.

He commented that from their first Commander-in-Chief General Gracey to date, the armed forces had never accepted the supremacy of civilian rulers. The MMA deputy parliamentary leader said that the fourth floor of Parliament House had become an abode of conspiracies against the prime minister.

It is pertinent to note here that the chamber of President General Pervez Musharraf is situated on fourth floor of the Parliament House, where he has held meetings with the ruling parties’ parliamentarians in recent days.

The MMA leader said that under Article 227 of the Constitution, the Finance Bill could not be passed by the House because it conflicted with the injunctions of Islam on the issue of interest. He demanded that the bill be sent to the Council of Islamic Ideology for review.

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