ISLAMABAD:ANP’s Aimal Wali said the ongoing Senate session appeared to be an attempt at pitting the Parliament against the judiciary as a number of government-aligned senators accused the judiciary of ‘selective justice and discriminatory contempt of court actions’.
Wali stated that the social studies being taught to students in Pakistan was “based on lies”. Referring to the picture of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah hanging in the Senate hall, the ANP leader said, “This picture also seems imprisoned.” Citing the Quaid’s address at an armed forces’ ceremony, he quoted him as telling the army that “the country was not made for you to rule”. He termed the Quaid “the country’s first political prisoner”.
As per the ANP senator, “the problem began with the missing persons’ issue, and has ended with the Parliament facing off with the judiciary”.
Criticizing several historic occasions associated with the country’s armed forces, he asked, “Who expelled the British? The British were not expelled by the army but by the people.”
He asked why justice was never sought for the hundreds of “KhudaaiKhidmatgars killed”. “We lost half the country by not accepting the mandate of Bengal. All of Sheikh Mujeeb’s family was killed. And yet the country is standing at the same point again.”
The ANP leader questioned press conferences conducted following the judiciary complaining of interference by intelligence agencies. “What other word will be used if not ‘proxy’ when this is how matters will be dealt with,” the senator maintained.
At the outset of today’s session, MQM Senator Faisal Sabzwari commended Senator Faisal Vawda over what he said a day earlier. “It appears that everyone has to be respected except the parliamentarians who represent millions of voters. The Constitution holds judges in high regard, as well as parliamentarians,” he said.
The MQM senator said “those sitting in the institutions also have no right to disrespect parliamentarians”. “There is no greater institution than the Parliament. Your respect is our respect. If you will practice selective justice then you will be questioned,” he added.