ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the joint session of the parliament on Monday proposed in-camera dialogue between the political leadership and the representatives of the military establishment to “address the issues between the parliament and the military establishment”.
PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar at the fag end of the proceedings proposed the PML-N government a six-point way forward to resolve the political stalemate in the country.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made a brief presence in the house and the lawmakers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) after a weeklong break rejoined the joint session. The MQM lawmakers had not been attending the session since party chief Altaf Hussain ordered them to submit resignation at the MQM Secretariat.
Sharing his proposals, Senator Farhatullah Babar suggested holding a face-to-face in-camera dialogue between the civilian political leadership and the representatives of the establishment to address the simmering issues between the two since the creation of Pakistan.
“Let the committees of defence of National Assembly and the Senate hold such in-camera dialogue in which both sides express their respective concerns about each other with a view to find a negotiated settlement,” he said, adding that Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed or Senator Raza Rabbani should be made head of this parliamentary committee on national security.
About article-245, he said calling in army was a mistake, as the move failed to achieve its purpose. He suggested the government to withdraw the notification of imposing article-245 in the federal capital. Babar also proposed the parliament to draft a resolution mentioning the protest outside the parliament was not political. “The Parliament should also condemn it unanimously for the sake of record,” he said, adding that meaningful and expeditious electoral reforms were need of the hour. “I propose to give the chairmanship of the reforms committee to the opposition or to Imran Khan,” he added.
Talking about Charter of Democracy, he said there was a need to implement articles 32 to 35 of the CoD, which dealt with addressing issues in civil-military relations. “The implementation had been put off on the request of Nawaz Sharif at the time of the passage of the 18th Amendment,” he shared with the house.
He recalled that last PPP government had also faced issues like civilian control over ISI and clamouring over Kerry-Lugar Bill but former President Zardari led the nation to safety. “Even though in that process he sacrificed the PPP prime minister and ambassador in US Husain Haqqani,” he added.
The PPP senator was of the view if the parliament had not shown unity, Nawaz Sharif might have gone. “The lesson of the crisis is that a decision delayed is not a problem avoided but crisis invited,” he said and added that the prime minister should not ignore the parliament while taking critical decisions about civil-military relationship.
Taking the floor, Senator Babar Ghauri said that joint session should not give impression that parliamentarians were there to wage a war against protestors. “These protestors should not be considered as aliens,” he said. He said the government should have erected spurs if the government had knowledge about the meeting of Imran Khan and Qadri in London. “We should behave with protestors politely and there is need of serious dialogue to resolve this stalemate,” he said, adding that former President Pervez Musharraf’s issue should also be resolved.
Ghauri also criticised the announcement of civil disobedience by Imran. However, he said the constitutional demands of the protesters should be accepted. He strongly opposed the demand of the resignation of Prime Minister Sharif.
MNA Shah Jee Gul Afridi, on his turn, proposed PAT and PTI to end these sit-ins and serve flood-affected people in the country.
About flood situation, Minister for Defence Khwaja Muhammad Asif said the floods in Rivers Jhelum, Chenab and Ravi had badly affected the country, adding such floods did not happen in the past. He assured to take house into confidence on daily basis about flood situation and relief work.
Earlier, the house unanimously passed a resolution on the occasion of International Literacy Day to express its resolve to eradicate illiteracy from the country by utilising all available resources for educating each and every child.
The resolution moved by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal called upon the federal and provincial governments and private sector to take appropriate measures for hundred per cent literacy rate at primary level.