No compromise on any issue: MMA: Opposition senators criticize govt policies
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: The MMA will chalk out a new strategy if the government failed to return to the negotiating table within the stipulated time and with a nod from President Gen Pervez Musharraf on the proposed constitutional package.
This was stated by MMA president Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani at a joint news conference held in the committee room of the parliament house after the combined opposition’s en bloc walkout from the Senate session on Thursday.
PPP Parliamentarians’ Raza Rabbani, PML-N’s Ishaq Dar, Jamaat-i-Islami’s Prof Khurshid Ahmed and Balochistan National Party’s Sanaullah Baloch also spoke.
In reply to a question, Maulana Noorani said the MMA had made it clear to the government side at the party heads’ meeting that there was no alternative to the recourse of electoral college for the election of president.
He said the combined opposition’s protest in both houses of parliament would continue as talks between the government and the MMA had not yet concluded.
He said the MMA had not compromised on its declared position on any of the points and it would stick to the stand that no piece of law could be made part of the Constitution unless it was placed before parliament for its assent by two-thirds majority.
He said the MMA had decided to accept the president in uniform for one year as a last resort, but “we are of the firm opinion that the president should not be in uniform for a single day”.
Mian Raza Rabbani, parliamentary leader of the PPP Parliamentarians in the Senate, criticized the president for raising the issues of Kalabagh dam and other controversial water projects without taking the provinces into confidence.
Ishaq Dar of the PML-N said his party’s stand on president-in-uniform was different from that of other opposition parties as the PML-N did not accept Gen Musharraf in uniform or without it even for a single day.
He said the PML-N believed that even if the government reached some understanding with the MMA on constitutional issues it would not auger well for democracy. He opposed sending Pakistani troops to Iraq.
Sanaullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party said Balochistan was being turned into a mega cantonment by acquiring vast lands for the army. He added that the army bases used by the United States against Afghanistan were now being readied to be used against Iran.
Jamaat-i-Islami deputy chief Prof Khurshid Ahmed said Kalabagh dam was a national issue and it cannot be built without consensus of all provinces.
He criticized the foreign office for expressing mere regrets on the veto used by the US against a resolution which condemned Israel for its intention to expel President Yasser Arafat from Palestine.
