Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday blamed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf for the circumstances that led to the emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, calling it a "political suicide attack" on PTI's own KP government. Speaking in the National Assembly, he said the measures were taken under the Constitution, that his party supports them, and that an emergency cannot stay in force indefinitely.
The House suspended question hour for the debate. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry tabled the motion. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar opened the discussion and said the cabinet had put the proposal forward after two and a half hours, arguing that the KP government's approach to terrorism had endangered national security. APP and Geo report that the motion was tabled. Neither says the National Assembly has voted.
Constitutional justification and security concerns
Bilawal said President Asif Ali Zardari approved the emergency under the Constitution. He said neither the president nor the PPP had been given a convincing constitutional, legal or political reason to reject the summary. He said Pakistan faced war-like conditions along its border with Afghanistan, while terrorist attacks continued, and that KP was among the worst affected provinces.
He said that when the summary first went to the president, the PPP had asked for talks with the opposition, and that its representatives sat on that committee. One proposal was to mark the worst-hit areas as terrorism-affected through the provincial government. Another was an agreement among the federal government, the provincial government and the KP chief minister to fight terrorism together. He criticised reported remarks by the chief minister at a public gathering, saying it was self-destructive for a provincial chief executive to tell people he would not support the federal fight against terrorism.
Offer of talks and parliamentary reaction
He urged the prime minister to reach out to the opposition. He said that if political dialogue produced an agreement and the emergency was no longer required, he would stand in the House and ask the prime minister to end it. He warned that restricting one party's political space could also affect other parties and citizens. He said the fight against terrorism could not be left to the police, the armed forces or one party, and that the PPP would support the emergency.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan called the move an assault on democracy and said terrorism was being used as a pretext. Tarar said the provincial chief executive had disregarded the sacrifices of soldiers and civilians killed fighting militancy.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Wifaqi hakumat ne Khyber Pakhtunkhwa mein emergency aur governor raj nafiz kar diya hai. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari ne National Assembly mein kaha ke PTI ne apni hi soobai hakumat par political suicide attack kiya. Unhon ne kaha ke agar muzakrat se emergency ki zarurat khatam ho jaye to woh khud prime minister se emergency khatam karne ki guzarish karenge. APP aur Geo ke mutabiq motion table hui hai. Dono ke mutabiq National Assembly ne abhi vote nahi kiya.
