July 14, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 13: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) has decided to delay filing of disqualification references against its dissidents — now the Patriots members — and to wait for the outcome of the government-opposition talks on the LFO, instead, the party sources told Dawn on Saturday.

The sources said the decision had been taken at the top level to facilitate a trouble-free atmosphere for the proposed talks on the LFO. Earlier, in a joint meeting of its Central Executive Committee (CEC) and Federal Council on July 5, the party had decided to take action against those of its members who had joined the government after the formation of the Patriots.

The PPP had also formed a five-member committee of lawyers to prepare references against them. The committee was tasked to prepare disqualification references against all the members of the Patriots on an individual basis. However, the committee has not even held its first meeting, the sources said.

When contacted, a member of the committee Senator Sardar Latif Khosa told Dawn that the party would have to wait for the outcome of the LFO talks because if it filed references against them under the amended Constitution, the party would be deemed to have accepted the LFO as part of the Constitution.

Mr Khosa said the Patriots had been given protection under the LFO, which had “mutilated” the original Article 63-A of the Constitution.

He said under the original Constitution, the parliamentary leader of the party was to decide whether any member had committed defection or not. “This power has now been transferred to the Chief Election Commissioner,” he said.

Under the original Constitution, the PPP senator said, the party head was authorized to send a reference to the speaker, who was bound to send it to the CEC within three days.

The CEC, he said, was bound to issue a notification for the re-election on the said vacant seat within seven days. Moreover, he said, the defector had no right to appeal against his disqualification.