ISLAMABAD: Stung by the privilege motion submitted by PML-N to the National Assembly Secretariat against Altaf Hussain, the MQM on Wednesday submitted three similar motions referring to the PML-N’s alleged contacts with the army and its governance in Punjab.
The motions, submitted in a tit-for-tat move, carried signatures of all the 25 MQM members and were handed over to the National Assembly secretary by the party’s parliamentary leader and federal minister, Dr Farooq Sattar. He was accompanied by Haider Abbas Rizvi, Farhat Khan, Salahuddin and Sajid Ahmed.
The PML-N had submitted a privilege motion on the contentious remarks made by the MQM chief while addressing his party workers on Monday, urging army generals to take ‘martial law-like action’ against ‘corrupt politicians’.
In their motion, PML-N members had termed Mr Hussain’s remarks “against the democratic norms and democratic institutions”.
The MQM leaders, in their first motion, stated that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had breached the privilege of the house by hiding a secret deal with the military regime under which he was allowed to live in exile in Saudi Arabia even though he had been convicted by a court.
Through the second privilege motion, the Muttahida questioned the motive behind a secret meeting Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had with the army chief, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
It alleged the PML-N has always been in “good relations with the army” and that Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar had never taken the nation into confidence about these meetings.
Sialkot brutality
Besides this, MQM members submitted an adjournment motion, seeking a debate on a recent incident in which two brothers were publicly murdered in the presence of police in Sialkot. They termed it a criminal negligence on the part of PML-N government in Punjab.
Talking to reporters, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar stated that Nawaz Sharif had never clarified the status of his exile to the nation. He said the deal between Mr Sharif and former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf some 10 years ago should be made public.
“The nation should be told as to how Nawaz Sharif reached Saudi Arabia through a special plane from Attock prison with 110 boxes and his servants,” Dr Sattar said.
The MQM leader alleged that Mr Sharif kept on lying for seven years, saying that no deal had been struck by him with the military ruler.
Later, speaking at a news conference in London in Sept, 2007, Mr Sharif disclosed that the deal was only for a period of five years, Dr Sattar said. “Nawaz Sharif should at least seek a pardon for telling this lie to the nation.”
Dr Sattar said on the one hand, the PML-N had signed the Charter of Democracy with the PPP, agreeing that it would not keep contacts with the Army, and on the other, Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar were holding meetings with the army chief “under the cover of darkness”.
Speaker Fehmida Mirza has already summoned the assembly session for Sept 2 on the requisition of the PML-N members to discuss the flood situation.
A government adviser told Dawn that the privilege motions moved by both MQM and PML-N were not maintainable under the rules and were likely to be rejected.
He was of the view that both the parties had moved these motions only to get an opportunity to malign each other on the floor of the House.
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