March 28, 2003	Friday	Muharram 24, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 27: The combined opposition in the Senate on Thursday vowed to continue and put up a strong opposition to the controversial Legal Framework Order (LFO) from becoming part of the 1973 Constitution.

It declared: “Except for the ongoing debate on most tragic situation of Iraq, no normal parliamentary functions will be allowed on floor of the house till the said piece of legislation is withdrawn and sent to the parliament’s scrutiny and assent”.

Senators from both sides briefly but forcefully spoke on the LFO before opening up of a regular debate on Iraq war.

Leader of the house of People’s Party Parliamentarians, Mian Raza Rabbani, said the opposition’s stand on the LFO was unchanged. It would never accept the document as part of the Constitution unless the two-third majority of the upper and lower houses of parliament scrutinised and sifted through acceptable and non-acceptable parts of the LFO for a final assent.

He said that since the present session of the upper house was requisitioned by the opposition to discuss foreign policy, especially with reference to the tragic situation of Iraq, it was agreed with the treasury to allow a debate on the LFO.

Prof Khurshid Ahmed, a senior Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) leader and Jamaat’s deputy chief, said the opposition’s stand against the LFO had full backing of the whole nation and all Bar bodies, including that of the Supreme Court.

Replying to the objection raised by what he termed skeptics about why the LFO opponents had contested polls under the same, Mr Khurshid said it was done to steer the country out of crisis.

He referred to a chief court decision of 1955, in the Yusuf Patel Case in which the court held that no individual or institution is empowered to authorise an individual to amend the Constitution, who has itself no such powers.

MMA President Allama Shah Ahmed Noorani said Pakistan had framed a consensus Constitution of 1973 after great sacrifices in which all the provinces and political parties played their role.

He regretted that some individuals keeping their own liking and disliking tried to mould this consensus Constitution subservient to their own whims and wishes which according to him should be condemned with full force.

The 1973 Constitution, he said, provided a clear method for bringing any amendment to it. This Constitution was a symbol for our national unity and its distortion was betrayal to the nation, he maintained.

Allama Noorani termed the LFO an illegal framework order with no moral and legal footings. It should be scrutinised afresh by parliament, he said.

Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentary leader Asfandyar Wali Khan challenged an argument of some that the Supreme Court had authorized an individual to amend the Constitution by asking the chair if under the law any senator was able to perform the duty of Senate chairman unless the upper house authorized him to do so.

Taking part in the discussion, parliamentary leader of the PML-N, Ishaq Dar, said the LFO was a combination of the presidential order and the PCO which could not become a piece of legislation unless gone through the process which was laid down by the Constitution.

He referred to the Supreme Court cases of Zafar Ali Shah and Qazi Hussain Ahmed in which the apex court clearly instructed that all must abide by the Constitution without resorting to change in its character.

Mr Dar warned that parliament was capable of invoking Article 6 of the 1973 Constitution which dealt with subversion of the document.

He said if all the legislations done by the past dictators, including Yahya Khan and Gen Zia, were put before parliament for assent, why the LFO of Mr Musharraf could be absolved from the passage by legislators.

Anwar Bhinder of PML-Q told the Senate that the ruling party had initiated a dialogue with the opposition parties to reach a consensus on the LFO.

Babar Ghauri, a senator of Muttahida, generated quite a heat when he attacked the opposition for its all-out opposition to the LFO under which it had contested elections and were part of parliament.

He said the opposition by recognising the legitimacy of the chairman and deputy chairman’s offices and moving Supreme Court had accepted the legitimacy of the LFO. He said if they could appreciate and support the Iraqi ruling junta in uniform, why they objected to Gen Musharraf for keeping his COAS uniform on.

He said his party was also opposed to the LFO, but it still believed that a weak democracy was better than the martial law, and, as such, it was supporting the present set up to be a transition to the democratic order.

Among others who spoke on the occasion included: Sanaullah Baloch of BNP, Amanullah Khan Baloch of JWP and a senator of Pakhtoonkhwa Awami Milli Party.