‘Honest prime minister’: Rabbani lashes out at AGP for giving clarification on CJP’s remarks

ISLAMABAD: Senator Raza Rabbani took an exception on Tuesday to the attorney general’s clarification on the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s ‘honest prime minister’ remarks, saying he was not authorised to speak on behalf of CJP.

The controversy echoed again in the House as Federal Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar attempted to bring on record the clarification given by the attorney general on the Chief Justice’s remarks.

Tarar said that the attorney general did not make any clarification but narrated the happenings as he was present in the courtroom, adding that the remarks about the honesty of the prime minister were not made in the courtroom, rather there was a mention of the dissolution of the assemblies in 1988 and 1993.

Senator Rabbani lashed out at the Attorney General for daring to clarify the proceedings of the House and maintained that the AG enjoyed the privilege that he could attend the proceedings of both houses of parliament but he was not a member of the House.

“The AG cannot control the proceedings of the House nor can he talk on behalf of the House or issue a clarification on behalf of the House. He should have defended parliament when it was being whipped by the judiciary,” remarked Rabbani.

He said that the house should take a serious exception to the letter written by the AG, adding, the letter should not be placed on record of the Senate.

On this, the law minister argued that it should not be made an issue, as the AG only clarified what was being circulated on social media. The words, which form the basis for a debate, were not uttered, remarked the law minister and noted that neither he nor Rabbani was present in the courtroom but the AGP was. He added that the Attorney General was part of the government being the principal law officer.

“The AG deemed it appropriate to communicate it to me as the law minister and I have put the clarification before you. There is no need to go deep down into it,” said Tarar. However, the law minister failed to convince Rabbani, who insisted that the AG had no right.

Rabbani contended that a clarification should have been issued by the Registrar of the Supreme Court. The minister in response said, “The institutions belong to all of us. We should move forward instead of complicating things”.

However, as the chair requested the members to let him start the Question Hour, the Leader of the Opposition Dr Shahzad Waseem got the floor and reminded the members the Chief Justice also spoke about incomplete parliament and demanded to discuss it.

He claimed the majority was converted into a minority under a conspiracy through the worst kind of horse trading and added that if the government really respects the judiciary, it should also respect the Constitution.

“Why the dates for general elections to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies are not being announced,” he questioned.

The law minister reminded him that the Supreme Court had noted that PTI deliberately quit the assemblies and that it should have taken part in the National Assembly proceedings when the NAB amendment bill landed in the House. “You kept on sitting in the Parliament Lodges for nine months. You need introspection instead of clamouring after acceptance of your resignations,” he contended.

The chair had to read out the presidential order of prorogation of the session sine die, after several senators from both sides of the aisle, still wanted to speak first.