SUKKUR, July 12: Political leaders in this district have strongly criticized the condition of ‘graduation’ for all the candidates of national and provincial assembly seats and said that it was an attempt to deprive the people of their genuine leaders.

The PPP leader, Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, and the president of the party’s Women’s Wing, Dr Yasmeen, said here on Friday that such a curb appeared to be unparalleled in the political history of the country as well as many of the other states.

They pointed out that literacy rate in Pakistan was remarkably low and such a condition was bound to deprive the voters of their favourite leaders.

They criticized the rulers for ‘playing with the Constitution’ and said that the retime had no mandate to bring about amendments.

“Even the Supreme Court is not authorized to alter the basic structure of the Constitution which was unanimously approved,” they said.

The PML leaders, Syed Pir Ali Shah, Miss Shamim Razzak, Aqeela Naz and Abdul Razzak Aasi said that the proposed amendments to the Constitution, including the clause of graduation, were part of the government’s attempt to achieve the results of its own choice in the forthcoming elections.

They said that the government wanted a parliament of its handpicked legislators.

They warned that only a genuinely elected parliament was empowered to bring about any amendment to the Constitution and advised the rulers not to undertake a ‘futile exercise’.

The JUI leader, Khalid Mehmood Soomro, said that the government had already lost its moral credibility after the so-called referendum and, therefore, President Musharraf should quit to pave the way for elections in 90 days under a neutral caretaker setup.

He said that amendment to the Constitution would carry no credibility as the government was not a competent authority for the purpose.

He said that only an elected parliament could bring about any amendment.

The graduation clause, he said, was an effort by the rulers to get people of their choice elected.

He claimed that the government’s policy on Afghanistan and Kashmir had failed because of its ‘U-turn’.

He advised the military leadership to concentrate only on their actual task of national defence.