November 6, 2002	Wednesday	Sha’aban 30,1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Nov 5: The Pakistan Muslim League (Q) on Tuesday demanded postponement of the inaugural session of the National Assembly, a move immediately condemned by the ARD chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan.

The veteran politician warned that the postponement of the National Assembly session would lead the country towards a disaster and called upon the civil society organizations, including lawyers associations, labour unions and people belonging to other walks of life, to jointly resist the government move to delay the session.

Earlier, the official news agency reported that PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim in an interview with a Japanese news agency said that he had written a letter to President Pervez Musharraf, asking him to postpone the session scheduled to be held on Friday.

However, Makhdoom Amin Fahim denied that he had made any such demand.

Nawabzada Nasrullah also expressed surprise over the report that the PPP leader had made such a demand.

Expressing his “dismay”, he said Makhdoom Amin Fahim remained present with him the entire evening but did not give a hint that he had written a a letter to the president.

He said he would seek an explanation from Makhdoom Amin Fahim.

“History is repeating itself,” Nawabzada Nasrullah remarked while referring to the events of 1970 when an elected assembly was not allowed to meet which led dismemberment of the country. When asked to comment on the demand made by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, he said the ARD had a known stand on the restoration of the 1973 Constitution and on the amendments made by the present government.

He said all the component parties had made a commitment with the nation. “I have a file of the resolution adopted by the ARD in this regard,” he said. The ARD could not move an inch from these commitments which it had made with the nation.

He pointed out that Mir Zafarullah Jamali in his interview had claimed that they had the support of 180 members. When they had the necessary support they why they were trying to defer the session, he asked.

Leader of the parliamentary party of PML-Q Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said in a statement that the National Assembly session should be postponed.

“Through a consultative process with the representatives of major political parties in the National Assembly we have reached a finding that it may not be suitable to convene the National Assembly on Friday.”

He said the holding of session might prove precipitous and may even vitiate the existing negotiating environment of discussion, dialogue and consensus-building among all the representatives of key political parties.

“We have been approaching other political parties not out of necessity but for observing democratic courtesies so we can forge a national consensus on the critical issues facing Pakistan,” he added.

The government has so far not issued any notification for convening the inaugural session on Friday, Nov 8.

HAMID NASIR CHATHA: Leader of PML-J Hamid Nasir Chatha also demanded on Tuesday that the National Assembly session should be postponed till the political parties were able to decide the matter of formation of government “so that parliament is run in a viable manner, as mere induction of a prime minister is not enough,” adds APP.

Talking to newsmen, he said legislation was a serious business for which it was imperative to form a stable government.

He said the Nov 8 session should be postponed for the reason that it would be the first Friday of Ramazan, and if the session was held in the morning the oath-taking could not be completed by Juma prayers, while if it was held after Juma prayers, it could not conclude by ‘Iftar’ time.

PPP (Sherpao) Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao also supported the demand of postponement of the inaugural session as it would help in building national consensus.