December 22, 2003	Monday	Shawwal 27, 1424

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ISLAMABAD Dec 21: MMA’s deputy secretary-general Hafiz Husain Ahmed has appealed to the Supreme Court to intervene in the ongoing constitutional wrangling and reject what he termed the ‘unconstitutional’ favour of extension in retirement age granted to the superior court judges.

Talking to Dawn by telephone on Sunday, Mr Ahmed said the superior courts have been taking suo motu actions in the past and it was high time that the higher judiciary set an example of personal sacrifice by taking suo moto action to end the deadlock which was neither in favour of this government nor the nation.

He said it will not only help remove misgivings in the minds of the people about the judiciary’s role in constitutional matters in the past but will also set a good tradition.

The MMA leader said he had taken the alliance’s secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rahman and other leaders into confidence on the last three days’ talks with the government.

He said he has now reached Peshawar to discuss the issue with the provincial MMA leadership.

He said the MMA was not ready to accept the government’s persistent demand of enhancement of upper age limit for the SC and high court judges.

Replying to a query, he said: “We have told the government in plain words that it should end the deadlock immediately if it wanted to pass the amendments bill before the Saarc summit.”

He added: “We have also made it clear on the government that no bulldozing of the highly sensitive legislation would be allowed and the MMA will only cast its vote in support of the bill if it was debated in the National Assembly in accordance with the well-known and established parliamentary traditions.”