MLA Nawaz Naji boycotted Raja Pervez Ashraf’s joint session address
Special Reporter
Islamabad: Chairman Balawaristan National Front (BNF) Nawaz Khan Naji boycotted the Prime Minster of Pakistan Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s address to joint session of Gilgit Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) and Gilgit Baltistan Council, after he was barred from raising questions during the session.
He walked out from the session in protest.
“If the Prime Minster of Pakistan comes to address the elected representatives he should also listen to them. Otherwise there is no reason to sit like a lame duck and listen to a speech written by the bureaucracy which is calling the shots since 1947 in the region”, Naji later said.
He further said that the head of the Government of Pakistan was not just an ordinary guest of honor as Pakistan is major stakeholder and party to all the affairs in the region and its government should be answerable to the people of the region through their elected representatives.
He was of the opinion that his rights to question was denied and he was left with no option but to boycott the session meant for listening and clapping to the speech of Prime Minster of Pakistan.
The right based groups, intellectuals and people working for peace have appreciated the boycott of the joint session by the Nawaz Khan Naji. Independent observers termed the boycott by a member of GBLA as the sign of beginning of a new political era of resistance by elected representatives in the region, which was nonexistent before.
In pseudo local autonomy, controlled by colonial structures, localized majority rule means effective control of the public opinion and resources by local vested interests of all kinds…fleecing people in darkness!
Naji, as the lone voice of reason, justice and peace, may seem like a nut to vested interests, but there is no reason why he should not continue to raise such voices against injustice and oppression, and challenge ingnorance?
Thats what he stood for throughout his life, and that is why the youth and intellegentsia cherish him.
There is a good number of vocal leaders in GBLA like Mirza Hassan, Raziudin,and Deedar who should have joined Naji in his boycott to show their dismay over the recent killings in GB.