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| April 12, 2003 | Saturday | Safar 9, 1424 |
PML-N asks govt to bring LFO before parliament
ISLAMABAD, April 11: The Pakistan Muslim League-N said here on Friday that after the Lahore High Court’s judgment on the Legal Framework Order (LFO) the government should not show reluctance to bring it before parliament for validation.
Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, acting president of the PML-N said the Lahore High Court (LHC) judgment has affirmed the supremacy of parliament in constitutional matters and the government should stop saying that the LFO was the part of the constitution.
The court’s remarks, Mr Hashmi said, had thoroughly rebutted the government argument that the constitution already stood amended, and the opposition should move a private bill if it wanted to amend it further.
He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s party should take note of the high court’s reference to Gen Zia-ul-Haq’s Revival of Constitutional Order 1985, which had to be presented to parliament that approved only part of it.
The PML-N leader said the LFO was similar to General Zia’s RCO and it must be laid before parliament for consideration and voting.
“It is the sole prerogative of parliament to decide what part of the LFO should be made part of the constitution and what to be thrown out,” he added.
He said the PML-N was firmly committed to the supremacy of parliament and sanctity of the constitution.
Mr Hashmi said the entire legal community of the country as well as patriotic political parties had rejected the LFO as negation of democracy, because it was nothing but a device to perpetuate military rule with a rubber stamp parliament.
He said now the observations of the LHC had also made it clear that amendments made outside parliament, and that too by a serving general, had no moral or legal value.
“If the members of the present ruling coalition have any respect for democratic principles, they should urge their leaders to bring the LFO in parliament for discussion,” he added.
UNIFORMED PRESIDENT: The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) on Thursday said Pakistan could not afford to have a uniformed president any more as the country had already suffered a lot due to the generals’ involvement in politics.
In a statement on Thursday, PML-N Secretary-General Saranjam Khan said the uniformed president and LFO were major controversial issues confronting the nation.
He said it was a point of regret that since 1947, the generals ruled the country for over 27 years after trampling the Constitution and elected governments.
“The Armed Forces is a respectful institution and the generals, instead of indulging in politics, should perform only their professional duties of defending the geographical borders of the country,” the PML leader remarked.
He declared that his party would continue to oppose all attempts to impose undemocratic and unconstitutional leadership on the masses. He demanded complete restoration of parliamentary structure under the 1973 Constitution.
“We should learn a lesson from the fall of Dhaka and loss of Siachen Glacier, and should take serious notice of the Bush-Blair warning to attack Iran and other countries possessing weapons of mass destruction. He asked Gen Musharraf to shed his uniform and adopt the constitutional way to get himself elected as president.
Rejecting any chance of compromise on a president in uniform and the LFO, Saranjam Khan said his party wanted resolution of all the controversial issues through parliament, as it was the only constitutional platform for the purpose.
Any attempt to impose decisions lacking parliament’s approval would be unconstitutional and would aggravate the crisis, he maintained.
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