ISLAMABAD, Nov 1: Parliamentary leader of the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani has accused President Gen Pervez Musharraf of using national institutions for fulfilling his personal political ambitions.

Concluding the debate on the "bill to enable the president of Pakistan to hold another office" in the Senate on Monday, the PPP senator said Gen Musharraf had used state institutions to further his individualistic agenda.

Mr Rabbani said first Gen Musharraf used the army to assume power on October 12, 1999 and then he used judiciary to validate the takeover and to get an extension of three years. He said nazims and bureaucracy were used for referendum and the parliament was used to obtain a vote of confidence.

Mr Rabbani said after assuming power, Gen Musharraf stated that his name would not be mentioned in the Constitution, but in actual fact four Gen Musharraf-specific laws had come into force only to keep him in power.

These four laws are 'The Referendum Order 2002', amendment to articles 41(8) and 41(9) to provide for a vote of confidence as a substitution for the election of the president, amendment to article 41(7) and 'the President to Hold Another Office Bill 2004', he added.

The PPP senator said Gen Musharraf's uniform had divided the nation as two provinces had passed resolutions in favour of it while the NWFP had opposed it. In Balochistan Assembly, he said, the treasury members submitted the resolution but later withdrew it.

He said the basic structure of the Constitution could not be changed through a simple majority and this bill was against the basic scheme of the Constitution. He said the bill was illegal and ultra vires to the Constitution and it was also likely to bring the armed forces into 'disrepute'.

Another PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar, while taking part in the debate, said Gen Musharraf was already armed with enormous powers under Article 58(2)(b) as head of the National Security Council and powers to make key appointments.

The president, he said, had also re-written the Constitution to suit his own political ends and had installed a 'handpicked parliament and cabinet through rigging and gerrymandering'.

He said if Gen Musharraf as president dismissed the parliament and his order was struck down by any chance by the Supreme Court, he would have to abide by the SC verdict. But if he also held the position of army chief he could defy the SC order and impose yet another martial law and suspend the Constitution.

Gen Musharraf, he said, wanted to remain in uniform to take care of such an eventuality because he did not trust his own handpicked parliament.