KARACHI, Nov 22: The Pakistan People’s Party has vowed to work for a united opposition front in the National Assembly to challenge the government on LFO, constitutional changes, presidential election and supremacy of parliament.
The PPP is also confident of forming a government in Sindh, despite what it calls the “regime’s manipulation” to force its members to change their loyalty. Within the next 48 hours it would also announce names of its parliamentary leaders in all the provincial assemblies.
This was spelt out by the acting secretary general of the PPP, Mian Raza Rabbani, at a news conference held at Bilawal House on Friday.
He said the aforementioned issues were the ones on which the PPP, the MMA and the PML-N were united, in spite of their failure to evolve a consensus on the election of prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker.
In PPP’s view, there are three choices before the people now. The first is military dictatorship, which has now been replaced by the PML-Q. The second is that of politico-religious parties and the third is of liberal democratic forces. The PPP represents the third alternative, for which it is not prepared to compromise, he said.
Asked when ideological differences apparently obstructed a consensus agreement between PPP and the MMA, how it was expecting a common opposition front to work in the NA, Mr Rabbani said that despite differing perceptions on some of the issues, those issues on which they were united should be focused. Other matters were peripheral, he said.
He said that when the talks were being held with the MMA they were on a wider ambit and names for the various posts were not so important. But since there were basic differences on policy perceptions, a broad understanding could not be reached.
He said the PPP always stood for economic and territorial sovereignty of Pakistan where law of the land should be supreme. With regard to extradition, Mr Rabbani said it should be held on merit.
At the very outset, the PPP’s acting secretary general criticized the election process which, he said, was tainted by allegation of manipulation even before the first vote was cast. He regretted that this alleged manipulation was also witnessed during the election of Speaker when blank papers were recovered from the box. This, he said, was done to facilitate the King’s party.
He said that during ascertainment for the prime minister’s post, pressure was exerted on the PPP members to become the forward bloc’s members. He praised those who withstood the pressure and remained steadfast in their support to the policies of Benazir Bhutto for which the people had given them their vote.
He said the government’s mala fide intent was evident in its act of keeping the articles pertaining to floor-crossing suspended, even though it had blamed the politicians for resorting to such corrupt practices in the past.
He said that if the number of defectors, who voted for Zafaraullah Jamali in contravention of party discipline, was taken out of the votes polled by Mr Jamali, he could not have reached the top.
He said that a government formed through horse-trading and with the help of turncoats loses political and moral mandate of the people. It is just like shifting sands, he said.
He reiterated the PPP’s stand against the LFO and said that no individual had the right to amend the Constitution. He was of the view that the Supreme Court had not given Gen Pervez Musharraf the mandate to mutilate the Constitution. He said the LFO could only become law when a two-third majority of parliament voted for it.
He did not agree with the law minister’s contention that LFO had already become part of the 1973 Constitution and did not require validation by parliament. He said: “It cannot be part of the Constitution unless validated by the assembly. It has to be presented in the assembly because it is the question of parliament’s supremacy and mandate of the people. The LFO is tantamount to not accepting the mandate of the people.”
He was also critical of the newly elected National Assembly Speaker’s remarks on LFO and defection clause and maintained that when the issue of LFO was taken up by the NA, Speaker Ch. Ameer Hussain should not preside over the proceedings “because he has become partisan.”
With regard to the forward bloc, he said that on Nov 20, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Rao Sikandar and Naurez Shakoor, who are also members of the CEC, were reminded of Mr Hayat’s press conference of Nov 14 in which he had criticised the party policy but at the same time reposed trust in Benazir Bhutto. He said they were asked to contact Benazir Bhutto and explain their position to her, otherwise, the party would review the matter.
He said that on Nov 21, Makhdoom Amin Fahim wrote a letter to the ten members of the forward bloc, which was delivered to them on the floor of the House. In that letter, they were informed of the party decision to field Shah Mahmood Qureshi for prime minister’s post. They were asked to vote in accordance with the party discipline.
He said that after polling the highest number of votes, the PPP was justified in making efforts to form the government. For this purpose, it engaged other parties in discussion, without compromising on its principles. But when it became apparent that it was not possible to achieve that objective, the PPP decided to sit in the opposition.
When quizzed whether the PPP had lost hope in Sindh, Mr Rabbani replied in the negative and said that his party would form the government in the province despite PML-Q and military establishment’s efforts to undermine the people’s mandate.
He was emphatic in declaring that no forward bloc was emerging in Sindh.
