Pakistan: Opposition leader calls for removal of Abid Sher, for calling legislators power ‘thieves’.

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Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said that the opposition would submit a privilege motion in parliament against the Minister of State for Water and Power, Abid Sher Ali, for calling legislators power ‘thieves’. Talking to newsmen at the parliament house, he urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately remove the minister from the cabinet. He also expressed the fear that Defence Minister Khawaja Asif could be removed from office under ‘pressure’ of his subordinate department. He said the removal of the minister at the behest of an “institution working under him” would have serious consequences. He urged the PML-N to induct someone else in the federal cabinet, if necessary, and the defence ministry’s portfolio could be given to him. “Khawaja Asif is holding defence and water and power ministries, therefore, one of them could be given to some other cabinet member,” he said. Mr Shah said some elements had been trying to widen the breach between the media and the army by holding demonstrations separately in support of both of them. “The government has to bear the cost of this confrontation.” Mr Shah said similar rallies were staged in the past to derail democracy. He expressed the hope that the army and the media would foil the designs of anti-state elements. The opposition leader called upon PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Allama Tahirul Qadri to give up their plan to launch a movement against the government because it could harm democracy. When asked that the PPP was being accused of doing “friendly opposition”, Mr Shah said his party was supporting the PML-N only for the sake of democracy. In reply to a question about talks between the government and the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, he said the government appeared to be indecisive on the issue. Khursheed Shah urged the government to take the opposition into confidence on foreign policy and not to roll back the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project.