June 28, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 27,1424

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ISLAMABAD, June 27: The opposition’s no-confidence motion against the National Assembly speakers is bound to fail since the onus to bring members is with the opposition, parliamentary leader of the National Alliance Sardar Farooq Leghari said here on Friday.

“The opposition wanted to make the speaker the first casualty of the Legal Framework Order (LFO), but, in our view, they will fail,” he said while briefing newspersons at the National Alliance Secretariat. The alliance, he said, would oppose the motion.

Mr Leghari was flanked by his son Awais Leghari, minister for information technology, Agriculture Minister Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, Senator Akram Durrani, MNAs Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Gul-i-Farkhanda, Ibrahim Jatoi and alliance’s information secretary Mahmood Hashmi.

He said the allied parties were not in favour of changing the speaker, and that it was the opposition making the speaker controversial.

Replying to a question, Mr Leghari said the National Alliance would not condemn opposition’s no-confidence motion because they had every right to move such a resolution against the speaker, but such motions should be used sparingly instead of making it a joke.

The real objective behind the motion was to embarrass President Gen Pervez Musharraf, who was currently on a foreign tour, he observed.

He said a meeting of the allied parties was also scheduled at the Prime Minister Secretariat on Friday to chalk out Saturday’s strategy to handle the no-confidence motion.

Mr Leghari said it was the responsibility of the government to keep united all the components of the ruling party to defeat the motion.

He said the government-opposition dialogues on the LFO should not break and some sort of backroom talks should continue, whether inside or outside the parliament.

He also rejected opposition’s claim that the prime minister failed to convene party heads meeting, adding that a committee was constituted after the meeting to discuss LFO.

The National Alliance leader said the Constitution had been unilaterally amended through the LFO, and opposition’s claim that they had taken oath under the original Constitution instead of the amended one was unrealistic.

In fact, the opposition has created a myth that they have taken oath under the original Constitution. “The opposition has the right to oppose the LFO, but they should not propagate that they have not taken oath under the LFO,” he said.

About president’s wearing of two caps, he said when the president had said he would quit one of the offices in due course of time, the opposition should not make this an issue.

About president’s visit to the US and other countries, he said the president was meeting with important and influential world leaders, which was essential for strengthening Pakistan’s relationship with other countries. “These meeting will also help extend the outreach of our products in Europe and the US, besides Pakistan will be in a better position to deal with different problems like Kashmir, unemployment, and poverty in future.”