December 25, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 1, 1424

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LAHORE, Dec 24: The legal fraternity has disapproved the agreement the MMA has signed with the government to resolve the year-old LFO controversy.

In separate reactions, they said the lawyers struggle for the supremacy would continue unabated. They said the decision not to change the retirement age of the superior court judges was the direct result of the lawyers pressure.

Supreme Court Bar President Justice Tariq Mahmood (retired) said that the lawyers would not accept Gen Musharraf as president at any cost as being a government servant he could not become the head of state.

He said the accord carried a lesson for the judges that the judiciary should never play into the hands of dictators. He said the judges had gained nothing for what they did for the dictator. The remaining judges or the ones to be appointed now should also bear this fact in mind, the SCBA chief said.

He said the agreement that the general would get a confidence vote from parliament and provincial assemblies had vindicated the lawyers’ view that the referendum was unconstitutional. He said even the confidence vote would not give the general legitimacy as president.

Prominent lawyer Abid Hasan Minto said the MMA-government accord was not unexpected for him because he was well aware that the religious alliance being a coalition partner with the PML-Q would sign it in any case.

Giving his reaction to the accord, he said now the ‘superficial conflict’ which had taken the parliament hostage would come to an end and the legislators would have to take up people’s problems.

He regretted that the parliament had wasted full one year because of the LFO issue.

In response to a question, he said so far it was not clear whether the agreement had been reached assuming the LFO as part of the Constitution.

About the agreement on the National Security Council, Mr Minto said it was a positive development the it would now be a sub-constitutional organization. He said though the mandate of the NSC remained unchanged, the parliament would have the authority to disband it by a simple majority.

Mr Minto said struggle against the 58(2)(B) would continue as in a parliamentary system the president should not have the right to dissolve the National Assembly.

Former Supreme Court Bar chief Hamid Khan said the lawyers were determined not to accept military dictatorship in any case.

He said the agreement between the two sides was of little value.

He said the Constitution had given a specific procedure for the election of the president and referendum could not be a substitute to it. He said Gen Musharraf could not become president even after getting a confidence vote.

Hamid Khan said lawyers’ point of view about the extension of the judges retirement age had been vindicated. He said the government had given them three years extension without any justification.

meeting: ARD leaders present in Lahore will be meeting on Thursday to discuss the situation arising out of the MMA-government accord on the LFO.

The participants will also discuss what course of action the alliance should follow in the changed circumstances.

PML-N vice-president Tehmina Daultana is critical of the accord, and thinks that it will deface the Constitution. She said the agreement would strengthen the hands of Gen Musharraf and weaken parliament.

She said although the government would be able to have the amendments adopted with the support of the MMA, the ARD would never accept them. Whenever the alliance got an opportunity, it would strike down these amendments, she said.

The PML-N leader said her party was very clear in its thinking that the people should rule the country, not the army. She believed that the government-MMA deal would deprive the people of their right to rule the country.

DEMONSTRATION: ARD leaders and workers held a demonstration here on Wednesday to demand the release of the alliance elders who have been kept behind bars for political reasons.

They also criticized the MMA for signing an agreement with the government on the LFO.

Those who participated in the demonstration or addressed included: Altaf Qureshi, Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Mian Misbahur Rahman, Mian Muhammad Ayub, Sajida Mir, Saba Sadiq, Khwaja Izhar, Ayesha Javed and Haji Imdad.

They raised slogans against Gen Musharraf and the LFO.

They said since no allegation against Mr Zardari could be proved so far, there was no justification to keep him behind the bars any more.

Similarly, they said the case against ARD President Javed Hashmi was baseless and must be withdrawn.