The authority to appoint NAB Chairman should be withdrawn from the PM : Siraj ul Haq

Lahore : Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Senator Siraj ul Haq, has welcomed the government announcement withdrawing the amendment in regard to the Finality of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) in the electoral reforms and said this was a big victory of  the masses.

He was talking to the media at Mansoora during a meeting of the JI central leadership on Wednesday.

Siraj ul Haq said that the ruling party had made a conspiracy to include the Qadyanis among the Muslims through an amendment in the law but the nation and the media were fully awake and foiled the conspiracy. He said if the nation was fully awake in respect of its rights and ideological and religious identity, the conspiracies from all quarters against the identity of the nation could fail.

He said that the ruling party’s move to elect a person not fulfilling the conditions laid down in articles 62 and 63 of the constitution was highly shameful and if the government did not withdraw the controversial amendment, the JI would challenge it in the court.  He said it was a matter of shame that an individual who could not be elected a member of the parliament for not qualifying under articles 62 and 63 of the constitution should head a political party having scores of members of the parliament.

The JI chief said that the government had moved the electoral amendment bill in haste without taking into confidence the political parties.  The political parties were not aware of this move and even the PPP which had majority in the Senate, had been ignorant of this bill due to which the government was able to get it through by a single vote.

Siraj ul Haq reiterated that  the authority to appoint the NAB Chairman should be withdrawn from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and vested in a judicial body headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justices of the four provinces and the Islamabad High Court.

He said that the supremacy of the constitution and the law provided solution to all problems facing the country. He said that as long the country’s politics revolved around an individual or a family, no positive change could be expected. He said that the constitution making should be for the good of the nation and the country and posed a question if it was proper to impose dictatorship in the name of democracy.

Siraj ul Haq warned that if the path of confrontation chosen by the ruling party ended up in a  clash of institution, the government itself would be responsible.  He said that the country’s future   was linked to democracy and the undemocratic tactics of the government would not work for long as the nation did not like the government’s unconstitutional moves.