Barrister Zafarullah Khan of Watan Party, one of the petitioners on whose plea the Supreme Court scrapped the privatization of the Pakistan Steel Mills, said that the conspiracy to dispose off the country of the vital industry still continues alleging that Prime Minister Mr Shaukat Aziz is on top of the list of people who want to sell a vital national asset for reasons only known to them.

Barrister Zafarullah Khan said that during the recently held meeting of the Council of Common Interests, NWFP chief minister voted against the deal. He said that as per Article 154(5) of the constitution CCI decisions had to be unanimous and any disagreement on a national issue had to be adjudicated by the Majlis-i-Shoora, which meant either the National Assembly or the Senate. In case difference was not resolved, a joint session of parliament was the final arbitrator.

Barrister Khan said that it was deplorable to note that the prime minister had at the end of the CCI meeting declared that the council had given a decision in favor of the government. He said “This is clearly an unconstitutional response made under malafide intentions.”

He said the NWFP chief minister was now under a constitutional obligation to file a review petition before the Supreme Court to get a verdict that the issue of the PSM privatization was a dispute among the federating units. He said if the chief minister failed to file a plea, the Watan Party would move the apex court in vital national interest.

Barrister Zafarullah also said that the Supreme Court referred to the Council of Common Interests the issue for a decision on the ground that it could not take a judicial review of policy matters. He cited articles 2-A, 9, 37 and 38 of the constitution to plead that if the policy was formulated with a malafide intention, like the sale of profitable national asset, the apex court had all the powers to take a judicial review of the policy.