HYDERABAD, Aug 22: The deputy convener of the coordination committee, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Aftab Ahmad Sheikh, here on Thursday said his party had rejected the constitutional amendments, introduced through the Legal Framework Order by the president on Wednesday.
Talking to newsmen in the premises of the sessions court, Sheikh said President Gen Pervez Musharraf had no authority to amend the Constitution as it negated the basic norms of democracy.
He also did not approve the idea of the National Security Council and restoration of powers of the president under article 58(2b).
He said the MQM, however, partly agreed with the restoration of powers under article 58(2b), but that too, he said, must be done through an elected parliament.
The president should only be empowered to dismiss a corrupt and inefficient government and not to dissolve the entire parliament, Sheikh said.
He said the parliament should have the power to ratify these amendments and it must have the right to reject or accept any of the amendments.
STPP: The Legal Framework Order announced by the president is tantamount to the murder of democracy and a cruel joke with the parliament.
This was said by the leaders of the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party (STPP), Ali Hassan Chandio, and Muzaffar Kalhoro, in a joint statement issued here on Thursday.
They termed the so-called devolution of power plan a farce.
The STPP leaders said by concentrating all powers in one individual, the prime minister and the parliament had remained with no powers.
SNP-B: The chairman, Sindh National Party (B), Ameer Bhambhro, in his reaction to the constitutional amendments, said it had been proved that Gen Pervez Musharraf was a far worse dictator than Ziaul Haq and added that these amendments were like civil martial law.
He said the parliament alone had the right to amend the Constitution.
He said it was an undeniable fact that the army wanted to grab all civil powers.
Bhambhro urged all democratic parties to boycott the general election and launch a joint struggle to eliminate the role of the army from politics.
JSM (Z): The chairman, Jeay Sindh Mahaz (Z), Syed Zain Shah, has said without following the philosophy of G. M. Syed, the destiny of Sindh could not be changed and the occupation of Sindh by Punjab could not be brought to an end.
He was speaking at a public gathering in Sodhani goth, Manjhand taluka, Dadu district, on Thursday. He said the majority of Sindhis who came into power were least interested in the welfare of the people and had always sold out the interests of the province.
