PM should refrain from disrespecting Senate: Kaira

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) North Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira remarked that the country’s prime minister should not bring the Senate into disrepute.

While addressing a press conference on Sunday, Kaira hit back at premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for cricitising the Senate chairman and its newly elected members over horse-trading allegations. “The PM himself is buying votes.”

Over the much-talked about meeting between Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and the prime minister recently, Kaira remarked that the PM should share details of the meeting.

“Why did you [PM] go to the chief justice, please tell us,” the PPP leader said, adding that the PM said that he went as a ‘faryadi’. “What faryaad [wish] did you share with the CJP?”

The PPP leader further remarked that if the premier is so helpless, he should just resign. “There is a lot of confusion in the government. Nawaz wants to be the only one calling the shots.”

Criticising former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Kaira remarked that Nawaz lied while speaking in the National Assembly about his assets. “Supreme Court’s verdict states that Nawaz Sharif is a liar.”

The courts punish all those who break the law, Kaira added.

Abbasi, while addressing an event in Dera Ghazi Khan on Saturday, had remarked that Pakistan’s senators are those who have bought votes.

“Should our senators be those who buy votes of other people? Should the chairman be a person who bought votes? This is the quality of politics nowadays. This is the wrong we have to correct with the power of votes,” the PM added.

'Visited CJP as a ‘faryadi’ of the country'

On Friday, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said he had visited the Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar as a 'faryadi' (complainant) of the country.

He was referring to the reported remarks of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar during a hearing on Thursday wherein he had said his job was to listen to the pleas of every 'faryadi'.

"The prime minister came with a plea, and it is my duty to hear everyone’s requests. I didn’t go to the PM house or the Secretariat. They came to visit me," Justice Nisar was quoted as saying.

However, the apex court clarified that the chief justice never used the word 'faryadi' for Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The remarks had stirred controversy, with Nawaz commenting yesterday that the prime minister can seek an explanation on them from the chief justice.