0
LAHORE, June 25: Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) president Mian Muhammad Azhar demanded on Tuesday that the general elections should be held under the supervision of the army to exclude the possibility of any disruptive act or a law and order situation on the polling day.
Talking to Dawn he said the army had been supervising the elections in the past and should again do so. Nobody, he said, should oppose the deployment of army for the sake of opposition.
He opposed the demand for the establishment of an interim government at this stage but said his party would have no objection to retaining the chief election commissioner or replacing him.
Unlike opposition parties that doubt the ability of the military regime to hold free and fair elections, Mian Azhar said he believed the present setup was capable of holding impartial elections.
He said the elections must be held on time to put the country on path to democracy. The elections should be held on party basis as non-party elections had always divided the society and promoted prejudices. In his opinion only party-based elections could create national cohesion.
The PML(QA) president vehemently opposed the plan to empower the president to nominate an un-elected person as prime minister and allowing him six months’ time to have himself returned to the assembly. The prime minister must be an elected MNA and power to choose him should remain with the National Assembly, Mian Azhar said. Anybody enjoying majority in the assembly should have the right to become the prime minister, he said.
Answering a question, Mian Azhar said the president should not have the power to promulgate ordinances at all and the entire legislative business should be transacted by parliament.
He complained that in Pakistan the power to promulgate ordinances was misused by various governments. Some of them simply waited for the adjournment of assembly sessions to bring some new ordinance. The practice, in his opinion, reduced the parliaments to rubberstamps and should be given up now.
He alleged that legislation enacted through ordinances dealt with issues not liked by parliament. “It is unbelievable that today the parliament session is adjourned and tomorrow there is such an emergency in the country as to require the president to issue some ordinance.”
The PML(QA)’s decision to divest the president of the power to issue ordinances would not adversely affect the relations between the two sides, he said. He said his party had taken the decision in supreme national interest. National interest, he said, was exactly what the president was safeguarding.
In response to a question about President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s reluctance to meet political leaders to listen to their demands, the PML(QA) chief said the situation on the borders required all parties to show the kind of solidarity with the government the Indian opposition parties had done. Setting conditions for a meeting with the president at this crucial juncture, he said, was not right.
On the other hand, he said, the government should also listen to political parties’ point of view.
UNIFICATION: Mian Azhar said his party was in favour of unification of all factions of the Pakistan Muslim League, including the one led by Nawaz Sharif, provided the deposed prime minister had no role in the process.
He did not say the same thing about Shahbaz Sharif, arguing that the former Punjab chief minister had no office in the party.
The PML(QA) president said he would not like the exiled leader to pull the strings from exile.
He also made it clear that for the unification to take place, the PML(QA) would not bring any change to its organizational structure. With general elections only a few months away such a step could be devastating for the party. The incumbent office-bearers had been elected through the electoral process and could not be changed merely because leaders of other factions wanted them removed, he argued.
Mian Azhar said other factions desirous of unity would be given share in the organizational structure according to the representation they had in the previous legislature or the number of electable candidates now with them.
He refused to offer a comprehensive formula for unification, saying it would be regarded as an intrusion by the committee, comprising Gohar Ayub Khan, Rana Muhammad Ashraf and Sardar Assef Ahmad Ali, which was discussing the merger.
He refuted reports that the committee, constituted to work out modalities of the merger, had been dissolved.
He did not know when the committee would meet next.
PARTY AFFAIRS: He refuted reports that some leaders of his party were trying to form a group. All important decisions were taken by the party’s central working committee. Decisions on matters not dealt by the CWC were finalized after consultation. In practice, he claimed, a system of collective leadership was working in the party because of which there was no reason for any dissent.
Mian Azhar said the PML(QA) was the largest party in the country. If some individuals held consultative meetings it should not be misconstrued as divisive. He said decisions on party tickets would be taken by the parliamentary boards.
He denied that former MNA Sikandar Malhi had resigned as central vice-president of the party. “I have received no letter of resignation nor do I know about it. Mr Malhi was present in the recent manifesto committee meeting.”
(Sources close to Mr Malhi claim that the leader from Sialkot had resigned for being ignored by the leadership).
Answering a question, the PML(QA) president said his party would select honest candidates for national and provincial elections who were well known in their respective constituencies. New faces would also be brought to the fore and every candidate to be awarded ticket would be a graduate.
Mian Azhar claimed that his party would sweep the elections in the Punjab and get substantial representation in other provinces. The party, he said, had roots in the masses. He said the workers’ conventions to be held in the coming weeks would vindicate his claim.
He rejected the suggestion that most of the PML voters were with the faction headed by Nawaz Sharif. Had it been so, he argued, people would have held protest rallies after the overthrow of the Sharif government in October 1999. He said the myth would be exploded at the time of the next elections.
Responding to a question, the PML(QA) chief said his party would take a decision on cooperation with the National Alliance keeping the ground realities in sight. “So far the matter has not been discussed. But nothing can be ruled out.”
He said despite the fact that religious parties were opposed to the Musharraf government, his party could find common ground for cooperation in the elections. Being rightist, both the PML(QA) and religious parties could join hands, Mian Azhar said.
