Disrespecting Senate chairman is like disrespecting parliament: Khursheed

ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah and Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will hold a meeting on Wednesday to kick off the second round of consultation for the appointment of the caretaker prime minister and caretaker set-up for the upcoming general elections.

“The meeting with the prime minister will be held on Wednesday for consultation on caretaker set-up for the upcoming general elections. I still do not have any particular name for the caretaker prime minister as the opposition parties had not given any proposal in this regard,” said Shah while talking to newsmen at his chamber in the Parliament House on Monday.

He said he had to hold discussion with his party to come up with the proposed nominees for the caretaker prime minister. “We want to bring forward people who can safeguard democracy in Pakistan. If we make a mistake and bring a person who is unable to hold free and fair elections, that will do major damage,” he said.

In a reply to a question about remarks of the prime minister about the Senate chairman, the opposition leader said the PML-N keeps bringing new traditions and if the prime minister did not respect the Senate chairman, then he was not paying respect to parliament. “If the politicians did not respect parliament, how they will ask the judiciary and establishment for the respect of parliament,” he said.

Over the issue of the name of new Islamabad airport, the opposition leader said that if the new airport was not named after Benazir Bhutto, then he will challenge this in the Supreme Court.

He said Nawaz Sharif returns to the country after ending his exile after Benazir Bhutto returns to the country. “The new Islamabad Airport should be named after Benazir Bhutto Shaheed,” he said.

In response to another question over the transparency of the upcoming general elections, the opposition leader questioned whether the general election of 2013 were transparent. “But despite serious reservation on ‘RO Elections’, we have accepted the results and even we were in the forefront to save the parliament in 2014 when the parliament was attacked,” he said. To another question, Shah proposed for the formation of the parliamentary committee for accountability of all politicians.