16 February 2004	Monday	24 Zilhaj 1424

ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: Parliamentary leader of the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani says Pakistan is facing the worst-ever crisis and an "individualism versus institutionalism" situation.

Speaking at a "Dialogue" programme of the National Press Club (NPC) here on Sunday, the PPP senator held Gen Pervez Musharraf responsible for the present situation and said the country was facing great internal and external problems.

Mr Rabbani regretted that the parliament was not functioning independently and it had been converted into a debating club. Even the National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman are not allowing debate on important national issues, he added.

He said the government did not take the parliament into confidence on the recently held several important developments, including the Saarc summit, confidence building measures (CBMs) with India, Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting and the nuclear proliferation issue.

The PPP leader said despite the opposition's repeated demands, the foreign minister did not give any policy statement on the floor of the House on the steps being taken for normalization of relations with India.

He said the opposition members raised the issue of the scientists debriefing through points of order but the government was reluctant in holding a debate on it.

The PPP senator said when the information minister made a mention of the letter of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the floor of the House, he (Rabbani) pointed out the rule and asked the government to produce the said letter before the House.

Mr Rabbani said the opposition was sensible and knew the sensitivity of the issue. He criticized Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali's statement in which he said if any member wanted to raise the issue in the parliament then the government would respond to it.

Terming the PM's attitude as "callous", he said it was the responsibility of the government, and not any member, to put the issue before the parliament. "Decisions should be taken in the parliament and not in Davis," Mr Rabbani said while referring to Gen Musharraf's policy statement on scientists' issue.

He said it was an emotional issue for the people and particularly for the PPP, as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was "judicially assassinated" under an international conspiracy for launching the country's nuclear programme.

Mr Rabbani said Gen Musharraf had announced in a press conference that he had pardoned Dr A.Q.Khan. After Colin Powell's telephone call, he said, the Foreign Office issued a statement that the pardon was conditional and not a blanket pardon.

Moreover, he said, Gen Musharraf in the same press conference announced that the government would not share information with the IAEA and after few days the FO said it was ready to share information with the international agency.

Mr Rabbani also condemned the government for degrading judiciary in the scientists case. He said despite several notices by the court, the government did not submit reply of the questions raised in the habeas corpus petition.

"On the one hand, the government is not ready to submit reply to the courts and on the other it is ready to share all the information with Japan," he said, adding, "this shows how much respect the government has for the judiciary".

He said the one-year performance of the parliament was disappointing. The government, he said, had failed to do any legislation which showed that it had no programme for the people's welfare.