September 7, 2003	Sunday	Rajab 9, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: Rejecting treason charges against Benazir Bhutto, People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) president Makhdoom Amin Fahim has demanded action under Article 6 against those who had abrogated the country’s Constitution time and again.

Talking to newsmen at the party’s media office here on Saturday, the PPP president termed the move of the government to present a call attention notice against Benazir Bhutto in the National Assembly an effort to divert the attention of the public from real issues.

Mr Fahim said the party had already moved a bill in the Senate to reactivate Article 6 and asked the government to do legislation on it. He said the demand was not person-specific as the people had seen several army generals abrogating and suspending the Constitution in the past which was a punishable act under Article 6.

He said it was the right of the nation to know who was responsible for the “Kargil debacle” which earned bad name for the country.

He demanded appointment of a parliamentary commission to probe the Kargil incident and to suggest punishment for those responsible for it. He claimed that when Benazir Bhutto was the prime minister, she had prevented a Kargil-like operation.

Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar said when India could appoint a committee on Kargil why an inquiry commission could not be set up in Pakistan on this “misadventure.” He said those who were responsible for sacrificing the lives of so many soldiers in the “Kargil misadventure” should be punished. He said had the Hamoodur Rehman Commission report been published in time and the generals punished, the incident of Kargil would not have taken place.

Mr Babar said the Kargil war had sabotaged the Kashmir cause as it was after this incident that the world started labelling the Kashmiri freedom struggle as terrorism. He said Pakistan had to suffer on all fronts, including diplomatic, political and military.

He said treason cases should be moved against those generals who had violated their oath by indulging in political matters and destabilizing the country.

Raja Pervez Ashraf said the government was afraid of the popularity of Benazir Bhutto, who had secured the largest number of votes in the last general elections. The government, he said, had no answer to the opposition’s strong protest against the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and therefore, it had intensified the character-assassination campaign against Benazir Bhutto.

Zamarrud Khan and Chaudhry Manzoor criticized the Patriots for using deregoratory language against the party chairperson Benazir Bhutto on the floor of the house. They warned the Patriots of strong reaction from the party activists, if they did not change their attitude.