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| April 19, 2003 | Saturday | Safar 16, 1424 |
‘Opposition can move amendments to LFO’
ISLAMABAD, April 18: The government will not object to the opposition’s tabling of suggestions in parliament to amend the Legal Framework Order, said leader of the house in the Senate Wasim Sajjad here on Friday.
Talking to reporters here in the committee room No. 2 Mr Sajjad said that neither any ruler nor the treasury benches had any objection to the tabling of the LFO before parliament by the opposition.
As far as the government was concerned, there was no need to introduce the LFO before the house for discussion, since it considered the LFO as part of the Constitution, Mr Sajjad said.
About the need for an understanding between the government and the opposition on the LFO, he said that it is well known that negotiations between Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and the opposition members were on.
When his attention was drawn to the opposition’s allegations that the present session was unconstitutional as the government had summoned sessions of the National Assembly and the Senate, instead of a joint sitting, Mr Sajjad posed a counter question saying when the opposition had requisitioned the Upper House how could it be called unlawful.
“Chairman Senate is bound by the Constitution to summon the house if the opposition requisitions a session,” he said.
Mohammad Ali Durrani of Millat Party who sat next to him suggested that a committee of both houses be formed so that all issues concerning the LFO could be discussed.
Also, the legislators should create a conducive environment to let President Pervez Musharraf address the joint sitting during which a resolution should also be passed saying that in the event of any aggression, civilians as well as the armed forces would remain united.
He said that the intervention and exit of the armed forces from politics was always a sensitive matter, therefore, it should be tackled intelligently.
He said the opposition had come with a mandate and it was their duty to let the house function. They were not being fair to their constituencies.
“The session had been requisitioned under the pretext of discussing law and order and other issues, but was focused on protesting against the LFO,” he said.
The opposition members were also breaching the privilege of other members by not letting them speak from the floor of the House for which he intended to bring a privilege motion against them, he disclosed.
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