ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers in the National Assembly on Tuesday called for the formation of a parliamentary committee to probe the affidavit of former chief justice Gilgit Baltistan Rana M Shamim.
The former G-B chief justice, in his affidavit, had claimed that he was witness to the then chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar directing a high court judge not to release PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz on bail before the 2018 General Elections.
It was private member day in the National Assembly and there were 109 legislative items on the agenda of the House. However, the House didn’t take up any item of the agenda and the parliamentarians kept talking on other matters including Shamim’s affidavit.
PML-N’s Mian Javed Latif, while talking on a point of order, stated that the Islamabad High Court has also taken notice of the media reports on the affidavit of former top judge of G-B.
“A committee comprising members of this parliament should be constituted to probe the matter of the affidavit of the former CJ of G-B,” he demanded.
He also stated that it was a matter of national interest and argued why investigation cannot be made into a case in which a judge is leveling allegations against another judge.
Latif argued that Nawaz was acquitted in the airplane hijacking case a decade later only to find out that the early decisions were made under duress.
MNA Mohsin Dawar added that he failed to understand why the government’s ministers were defending the former chief justice.
“Investigation into this matter should be made and the parliament must not be made dysfunctional regarding it,” he urged adding that the parliament should also be informed about the developments in Afghanistan.
Federal minister Murad Saeed, while taking the floor, said that a narrative is being built before the hearing of a case which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
“Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif failed to provide money trail of his properties and generally there are always no receipts of the ill-gotten money,” he reiterated.
Nosheen Iftikhar from PML-N spoke about the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) report on the NA-75 Daska by-polls. She demanded that all those involved in the rigging should be punished as per the law.
Karachi fire
Speaking over the Cooperative Market fire in Karachi, PPP’s Shazia Marri maintained that members of her political party including Administrator Karachi Murtaza Wahab were present during the fire extinguishing operation.
On this, MQM-P’s Osama Qadri questioned why the 52 fire tenders provided by the federal government to Sindh Government were not available when the fire broke out.
Responding to him, Qadir Patel of PPP said that 270 persons were burnt to death in Karachi in Baldia factory fire. Taking a jibe at MQM, the PPP leader alleged that there were some people who embezzled the compensation awarded to the affectees of the incident.
Fahim Khan of the PTI demanded that an inquiry should be made into the fire accident in Karachi and an FIR should be lodged against the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.
