PESHAWAR/LAHORE, July 30: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has hinted at giving some relief to the government to resolve the prevailing political crisis in the country.
While MMA’s Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rahman maintained that the only way to resolve the political and constitutional crises was to accept Gen Pervez Musharraf as president, the alliance’s central leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed said a constitutional amendment would be brought in parliament to provide indemnity to Gen Musharraf’s three-year rule.
Speaking at the ‘Meet the Press’ programme of the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, Maulana Fazl denied any covert deal with the government, and said the alliance had adopted a pragmatic stance to steer the country out of the prevailing political quagmire.
He said the religious parties alliance would not disassociate itself from the grand opposition and would continue to cooperate with the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy.
Maulana Fazl said the ARD leadership did not take the MMA into confidence before announcing its boycott of talks, yet he still had great respect for Nawabzada Nasrullah and other leaders of the ARD. There were differences of opinion with the ARD but the MMA did not want to engage itself in any controversy with the ARD, he added.
Taking exception to the statements of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, he said despite close cooperation and political support, the former prime minister issued “provoking statements” against the MMA and other religious organizations, which hurt their feelings.
Maulana Fazl said despite the ongoing government-MMA talks, the government would have to present the Legal Framework Order before parliament for approval. There was no option but to table the LFO for debate in parliament, he maintained. “Let me reiterate that the MMA would never change its principled stand on the LFO,” he claimed.
When asked about the next round of talks, he said the MMA was waiting for the government response. He maintained that due to devastating rains in Sindh and Balochistan the next round of talks might be delayed for two or three days as he also received a call from the prime minister on Wednesday morning in this regard.
He hoped that the ARD leaders would agree to attend the next round as the prime minister had talked to PPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim in this context.
In reply to a question, the MMA leader said President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit to the United States was an exercise in futility. He said the US government had linked $3 billion assistance to a shift in the Kashmir policy and drastic changes in the syllabus of Madaris.
INDIAN VISIT: Maulana Fazl said the Indian government had agreed in principle to send its external affairs minister to Islamabad to attend the Saarc foreign ministers conference scheduled for Jan 4.
Initially, he said, New Delhi was reluctant to send its foreign minister for the forthcoming conference, but during talks with senior Indian officials he convinced the Indian government to send its foreign minister to Pakistan next year.
He said his delegation had planned not to discuss controversial issues with the Indian government and opposition parties and focused only on bilateral relations. “We discussed different options and proposals with the Indian officials and tried to create a positive atmosphere for the high-level talks between the two sides,” he added.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued in Lahore on Wednesday, Jamaat-i-Islami Amir and MMA Vice-President Qazi Hussain Ahmad said the religious alliance had not accepted the LFO as part of the Constitution during talks with the government on Sunday.
“The first point raised by the MMA during the talks was that the LFO was not part of the Constitution, implying that all amendments made through the LFO stand unconstitutional.”
To restore constitutional rule in the country, the government with the help of the MMA as well as other opposition parties would bring a constitutional amendment to reduce voters’ age from 21 to 18 years, and accept reserved seats for minorities and women as part of the basic law as far as the incumbent parliament existed, he said.
The increase in number of seats of all assemblies and the Senate would also be accepted as constitutional, while Gen Pervez Musharraf’s three-year rule would be given indemnity and he would be allowed to keep the office of the Chief of Army Staff till October 2004.
After passing the amendment, parliament and all the four provincial assemblies would elect Gen Musharraf as new president and his term would start from the day he would take oath of his office, he added.
The amendment would also define that the Constitution which had been put in abeyance on Oct 12, 1999, had been restored and that it could be amended only through the procedure that had been prescribed in the basic law itself, he asserted.
Higher courts’ judges who had reached the age of retirement would be relieved, giving indemnity to their service period that was over and above their original tenure.
All the ordinances, like the local bodies and police ordinances, that had deprived provinces of their powers would be abolished, while the election of the president through the referendum would also stand null and void as after October 2004 the presidency would be held by a civilian, the Qazi said.
The president’s powers to dissolve assemblies or cabinet under Article 58(2)(b) would be subjected to the approval of the Supreme Court, he further said.
Mr Hussain also dispelled the impression being created by some quarters that the National Security Council would be erased from the basic law through a constitutional amendment.
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