September 25, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 27, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: The combined opposition in Senate accused the government of constantly violating the Constitution and turning parliament into a rubber stamp institution under an army general.

Talking to newsmen after staging a walkout from the Upper House, People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Senator Mian Raza Rabbani said the government had no respect for the Constitution as it had failed to meet several of its requirements.

Giving an example, Mr Rabbani said the government had not constituted the Council of Common Interests (CCI), which was mandatory under Article 153 of the Constitution to resolve disputes between provinces.

Referring to the water issues, he said under Article 155, if any province had a dispute with other provinces or federal government on water issues, it could raise it in the CCI.

Therefore, he said, Gen Musharraf had no right to constitute any committee on the water issues without the recommendations of the CCI. If a province or the federal government, he added, was not satisfied with any decision of the CCI, any party could take the matter before the joint sitting of parliament under Article 154(5) of the Constitution.

He termed Gen Musharraf’s recent visit to Sindh to seek consensus on water issues a “glaring violation of the Constitution”. He also declared the proposed Senate committee on water issues “illegal and unconstitutional”.

The PPP leader said the statement of Water and Power Minister Aftab Sherpao in the Senate on the Greater Thal Canal project showed that he was not aware of the constitutional requirements.

PROF KHURSHEED: Senator Prof Khursheed of the MMA said the government had no serious legislative agenda which was evident from the proceedings of the National Assembly and the Senate for the past about 10 months.

The treasury members, Senator Khursheed said, were not interested in legislation and even the question hour was being run by the opposition as 70 per cent of the questions had been put by the opposition members.

He said the opposition members had submitted several adjournment motions on matters of national importance but the government was not bringing them on the agenda.

The local government system and the police act, he contended, were encroachment on provincial autonomy and that was why the two laws had been put in Schedule 6 of the Legal Framework Order. The country’s independence and sovereignty, he added, were at stake due to the wrong policies of the military government.

SANAULLAH BALOCH: Senator Sanaullah Baloch said the laws had been made only to serve the interests of the GHQ in the past four years.

Senator Baloch said huge amounts were being spent on the establishment of cantonments in Balochistan. Pakistan, he went on to say, needed a strong federal and political system and not Musharraf’s uniform.

Expressing concern over the worsening law and order situation in the country, he said law and order situation could be improved if the government spent Rs700 million, allocated for the maintenance of law and order, on the economic prosperity of the people.

PROF GHAFOOR: MMA’s Prof Ghafoor Ahmed said it was a general impression that Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister Jamali would resolve the LFO issue before their visits to the United States. However, he added, they were undertaking the visits while leaving the nation in the grip of severe crisis.