July 24, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 23: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has reiterated its position on constitutional issues and declared that no constitutional amendments in the form of Legal Framework Order (LFO) would be accepted unless the changes were got endorsed by parliament.

The declaration was announced by the party after a meeting of the PPP leaders here on Wednesday.

The meeting was co-chaired by the secretary-general of the party, Jehangir Badar, and vice-chairman Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and was attended by parliamentarians including Raja Pervez Ashraf, Nayyar Bokhari, Rukhsana Bangash, Murtaza Satti, Enver Baig, Farooq Naek and Farhatullah Babar. Others who attended the meeting included former IB chief Masood Sharif, ex-senator Malik Hakmeen Khan and Dr Farrukh Saleem.

The meeting reiterated that the party believed that the merger of the offices of the army chief and the president in one person was a negation of the Constitution and democracy and would not be accepted under any circumstances. The meeting declared that a subtle move was afoot to rewrite the civil- military equation in the country on the terms of the generals and all such moves must be resisted.

The meeting resolved to continue to deny legitimacy to the ‘illegal and unconstitutional’ political setup being imposed by the generals to perpetuate themselves in power. The party would hold accountable all those, who subverted the Constitution.

The party also opposed the proposed discretionary powers of the president to dismiss the government and sack parliament and also rejected the concept of National Security Council.

The meeting declared that the president’s prior consent to the amendment or repeal of the laws mentioned in Schedule 6 was an undemocratic restraint on the supremacy of parliament and also impinged upon provincial autonomy.