Ch Nisar blasts PPP government

ISLAMABAD: Opposition leader in National Assembly (NA) Chaudhry Nisar Ahmad said rulers were pursuing former president Pervez Musharraf policies and nothing has changed while prime minister remains a ceremonial figure and all decisions are still being taken in Aiwan-e-Sadr.
"Present government was toeing the footsteps of Musharraf regime. Decisions were taken in Aiwan-e-Sadr in Musharraf rule and it is happening so today. Prime minister remained ceremonial in yester years and he is still a ceremonial figure. Important decisions were imposed from outside the country in the past and today it is also being done so", he alleged this while opening debate in NA on presidential address Wednesday.
He stressed president Zardari should resign as co-chairperson of PPP and act as president of the whole country. It would have been better if Zardari had addressed the joint session of parliament as president of the country rather than co chairperson of PPP, he added.
He alleged Aiwan-e-Sadr had become hub of PPP meetings. No meeting of any political party was held in Aiwan-e-Sadr in Musharraf regime.
If chairmanship of National Security Council was forbidden for former president Musharraf then how it had become permissible for president Zardari, he questioned.
People had polled their votes for a change but it remained elusive and their dreams could not come true, he charged.
Taking strong exception to the government for making hollow claims he said government was claiming to make the parliament powerful but neither Kashmir issue had ever been presented in the house nor IMF bail out package had been put to debate in the assembly. Government even did not bother to apprise the nation of factual position about load shedding. The reason behind this was government had no money to pay to IPPs but it had in store the money to spend on foreign tours and marriage parties in Aiwan-e-Sadr, he regretted.
On one hand rulers were talking about financial crisis and on the other hand merry making was going on unhindered, he charged. Prime Minister claimed president Zardari had taken along larger delegation with him to Saudi Arabia on his own expenses and it cost him over 10 million rupees while Zardari was not holding assets of this worth in the country, he held.
Slamming the big size of cabinet he said unimportant ministries like postal services, dairy development, zakat and Ushr, special initiatives were being created.
Government had no clear defence policy, he alleged. Ministers were giving contradictory statements and were fomenting despair among the people, he added.
Nothing was being done against US strikes except giving condemnation statements, he said adding so many countries of the world could not compete with US but the latter could do no harm to countries like Iran, Syria, Cuba and Korea.
There should be good relations with US but these should not be at the cost of national security, he remarked. Government should rule the country as PPP of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, he maintained.
Even people of US were not supporting Bush policies but our rulers were supporting it, he underlined. Nation had not given the government mandate to appease Bush, Karzai and Manmohan Singh, he underscored.-Online