September 15, 2020 was another
unforgettable day in the parliamentary history of Pakistan when a joint session
was summoned to pass FATF’s dictated legislation. The joint session was
actually forced in by FATF and we as a nation are turned to be helpless to say
‘no’ to the directions of FATF duly engineered by India and the USA. Let us discuss
who brought the great idea of terrorism in Pakistan; the nation knows that
first, it was a result of our own blunder by jumping into the war of USA with the
USSR via Afghanistan. How the USSR was dragged into this war is part of the
record of international spy agencies. The major suffering from this war was
experienced by none but Pakistan and Afghanistan. We continue to suffer post
9/11 and facts remain that we have been suffering in the hands of America
nonstop but we still do not realise and every time we are ready to suffer
furthermore in their hand. The origin of money laundering started when cash
dollars were distributed among the Mujahedeen dollars which were transported in
US planes as the said war started with the USA funding.
The USA had been forcing us to do
more but we did only which our sovereignty allowed us and we rejected to
provide the data of our Pakistanis and it was me in the capacity of Interior
Minister who declined to sign a MoU requested to me by General (R) Durrani
followed by a pressing request by their Home Ministry. Now when I see all the
sections of laws now have been made on the directions of FATF, in fact these
are exactly the same demands which were made earlier made by the USA administration
starting from Senator John Kerry to Secretary Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately,
we have now been forced through the forum of FATF to agree to their terms. The
Americans know that money laundering originated from the USA as worldwide
business deals go through New York which is the main transfer hub of money
transfers in dollars.
In my article “Attacking
Pakistan’s Economy via FATF” dated October 21, 2019, I had expressed “I wish
the government had informed the world that money laundering was not done by
Pakistan but by those counties who created and supported the Jihadi
organisations for their ulterior motives to keep the peace in Pakistan and
Afghanistan disturbed. The creation and funding of Jihadi outfits came from the
USA and also support from the wealthy Saudis and other business tycoons from
the Middle East.” I had also mentioned in the same article “FATF is a joint
effort of USA and India to undermine Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate terrorism
and stabilise its economy. Pakistan should have demanded testimony from
Condoleezza Rice and Hilary Clinton in Congress regarding who had launched
these Jehadis. They had already made this frank confession which goes in favour
of Pakistan & how they were funded & trained. The record of this
confession by Hillary is, in fact, the right defence for Pakistan and it is
strange to note that the government failed to put forth these important hard
facts.”
Pakistan is the only country that
has made so many changes in its law linking it with international interference
and its benefit will go more to our enemy countries as the USA and other G- 7
countries will have the right to ask for secret information about Pakistan
where our complete privacy will be compromised. The laws are not endorsed and
are allowed to be passed by the FATF administration but our parliament did it.
I happened to be part of this parliament and feel equally responsible but the
collective response has made it happen. I fully endorse that the parliament has
been made a rubber stamp and both Shahbaz Sharif and Chairman Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari know who were absent from their parties from the house. Chairman
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has rightly termed this Parliament as rubber stamp but
it is now up to the political leadership how they take out the blame of rubber
stamp from the parliament. If this continues people are bound to lose their
confidence in the Parliament. The fact is that the speaker remained confused,
the opposition was less aggressive and it was overall a poor show. Reportedly
the absence were marked from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and from
the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and
the National Party, two from the Awami National Party (ANP), from the Baloch
National Party-Mengal and Baloch National Party Awami missed the joint session
of Parliament. I noticed that some closest aides of both the top leadership of
these parties were missing in the house. If all of these opposition members
were present then there was no question of the defeat of the opposition. In the
given situation the saga of the rubber stamp has also been contributed by the
members of these parties.
I think accountability has to
start from within the parties and all those members owe an explanation who
remained absent except who were genuinely sick. Their absence amounted to
ditching their respective parties. I am sure the respective leadership will ask
them about their embarrassing absence from the house as it is even worse than
floor crossing as it amounts to clever cheating of their respective parties. In
fact, it will not be wrong to stay that parliament having the honour of
receiving the “rubber stamp” is the production of the parliament itself. It is
unfortunate that as long as the money is there to buy and sell a vote this
practice will not stop. The political parties have a great chance to weed out
those who ditched their parties for the reasons best known to them. At least
this is an opportunity for their respective leaders to punish them even if they
are from the close circle. We do have members who think that they are the “aqil
kul” but many times I have seen them embarrassing their parties for quoting
wrong references. This is the time for the leadership at all levels to stand on
the basic principle of democracy and loyalties. The first count in the joint
house appeared to be doubtful and that was the time to demand the division of
votes and I did demand in high pitch but one of the senior leaders of PMLN
opposed me there and I kept on insisting. The sense prevailed during half the
session to walk out but our real complaint about the division of vote was
rejected undemocratically and unconstitutionally by the speaker. This is
Pakistan Parliament which will continue with the same distrust and internal
clever cheating. Parliament owes an explanation to the nation and action
against the temporary missing parliamentarians. Let there be a parliamentary
inquiry to know what excuses come out to justify their absence from the Joint
House. I have written this with a heavy heart what I saw or felt and hence no one
should take it personally. Let us see how many show cause notices are issued to
those who were absent. I am sorry for writing this blunt piece. I may not opt
to be in parliament in the next term but this article will remind many to
remain truthful and faithful to their parties as flu and fevers should not stop
performing their national duty. Let us hope that there will be no rubber stamp
“made in Parliament” in the future.
The article was published in The Nation on September 19, 2020 and link to the article is https://nation.com.pk/19-Sep-2020/rubber-stamps-made-in-parliament
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