ISLAMABAD Dec 30: The vice-president of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, on Monday threatened to quit as a member of the National Assembly, if the Legal Framework Order was made or accepted as part of the 1973 Constitution.

Taking the floor of the House after Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s securing vote of confidence the MMA leader said: “At least I will no more remain member of this House if the LFO was accepted as legitimate part of the Constitution”.

The JI chief asked parliament to unanimously ask president Musharraf to put off his army uniform to give parliament its due respect and restore the Constitution without any amendment making its part.

He said no army officer could become president as he was under oath not to involve himself in active politics while a president must be qualified to become MNA.

He impatiently said: “We want that the democracy is put on unfettered democratic rails without interference and we also wish to support Jamali government in order to start a new era of Islamic welfare state in which the poor and downtrodden are rehabilitated and the wheel of poverty is reversed.

Qazi regretted Jamali’s confession in his speech that he was unable to change policies which he had inherited and he had failed to address any of the national ills or to give the nation any hope of betterment in his most significant speech.

Qazi said: “It would have been better for democracy if the prime minister would have received the 172 votes without involvement in horse-trading and using arm twisting methods”.

He said there was a big difference between our’s and Gen Musharraf’s opinion about Constitution as we stand for the restoration of Constitution in its original shape but he was insisting on making LFO its part.

He maintained that the claim of the semi-military regime that the LFO had come into being as result of permission by the supreme court was baseless as the supreme court had neither given such powers nor it was itself empowered to give such powers to an individual.

He regretted that no concrete steps were taken for complete transfer of power as 60 days have passed since the elections and so far neither the senate nor the national assembly was complete, while the superior courts were working under PCO and requested for fresh oath under 1973 Constitution which was not acceded to so far.

Mr Jamali in his speech on Monday neither highlighted the problems of common man nor suggested any step to mitigate the poverty stricken masses.

Qazi said, the Constitution was restored keeping certain articles concerning bar on floor crossing were held in abeyance to allow turn coats become crutches for Jamali government.

He strongly condemned the hunt of FBI which picked Dr Amir Aziz first and then released and then arrested Dr Javed and eight members of his family in a midnight ambush. “It was against our independent and sovereign status” he said and demanded “we must be returned our independence back.

He demanded restoration of Friday as weekly holiday and also implementation of the recommendations of Islamic Ideology Council to put the country on path of Islamization.

Speaker Amir Hussain remained under pressure to give time to maximum number of members to vent their sentiments about government’s involvement in horse-trading of the MNAs but Makhdoom Amin Fahim opted not to speak.

Maulana Azam Tariq of banned religious group in his speech asked the government to restore religious harmony and end vicious conspiracy of dividing religious forces in the country resulting in large scale killings and arrests.

He also said that fair treatment and trial chances be given to the Ulema who were jailed on various charges.

A resolution was moved and passed in the late sitting of the House calling upon the US to shun the discriminatory laws against Pakistani expatriates, stop arrests and absolve them from Immigration laws implications.