August 24, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 25

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LAHORE, Aug 23: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, the Muttahida Majli-i-Amal and the lawyers on Saturday night announced that they would launch a joint struggle against the Legal Framework Order, asserting that all of ordinances issued by President Pervez Musharraf could not be indemnified as valid legislation.

In a joint meeting, president of the Supreme Court Bar Hamid Khan, leaders of the Joint Action Committee, ARD’s Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Senator Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, Qasim Zia, MMA’s Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Liaquat Baloch and Hafiz Husain Ahmad unanimously adopted a 14-point resolution against the LFO and the issue of the divestiture of Gen Musharraf’s military uniform.

Participants resolved that through the LFO, Gen Musharraf had attempted to amend the 1973 Constitution and he, along with his collaborators, should be punished on charges of high treason under Article 6 of the Constitution.

Rejecting the president’s discretionary powers to dissolve the National Assembly, holding of offices the president and the chief of the army staff by Gen Musharraf and the grant of three- year extension to superior court judges, they called for the dissolution of the National Accountability Bureau, saying that it was being used for political victimization.

ARD chairman Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said that no democratic politician could oppose negotiations with the government provided they proved to be meaningful and result-oriented.

“What can be inferred from Gen Musharraf’s press statement is that he does not want to waste his time in negotiations and there is no possibility of any parleys on the LFO. The Indian government doesn’t recognize Mir Zafarullah Jamali as an authorized prime minister and is insisting on direct talks with the general”.

Terming the LFO a threat to the federation and the Parliament, he said that a joint struggle by politicians and lawyers against the LFO was needed urgently.

MMA leader Qazi Husain Ahmad tried to clarify his party’s position over the recent talks with the government, saying that he had warned the government of a breakdown in negotiations in case the LFO was not admitted as the main agenda of the government-MMA meeting. He claimed that during these negotiations, the MMA had not deviated from its principled stance on the LFO, maintaining that it was not a part of the Constitution.

“Unless and until Gen Musharraf accepts the supremacy of parliament, no safe way out of the current constitutional crisis is possible,” he asserted.

PML-N leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi predicted that Gen Musharraf would never let the LFO be presented before parliament as the parliament consisted of what was viewed as anti-establishment politicians, who would not support what he termed the extra-constitutional package. Opposition parties, he said, and the ARD was united on a one-point agenda of opposing the LFO and expressed the hope that the MMA would stand by them in the days to come.