06 March 2004	Saturday	14 Muharram 1425

ISLAMABAD, March 5: Renowned jurist senator S.M. Zafar of the ruling PML-Q on Friday asked the government to give more responsibilities to the provinces by reviewing the Constitution's Concurrent List and reviving the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to allay apprehensions of smaller provinces.

"It is time to hand over more powers to the provinces as they have grown up now and are in a better position to handle powers more judiciously than the federal government," he said in his speech during the upper house debate on President Pervez Musharraf's address to a joint sitting of parliament.

It was not immediately clear whether Mr Zafar, who recently led a ruling party team in the constitutional talks with the opposition Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal which reached a settlement on the Legal Framework Order (LFO), was voicing his personal views or of his party.

Eight senators participated in Friday's debate, including Muhammad Aslam Buledi (BNM), independents Muhammad Amin Dadabhoy and Syed Muhammad Hussain, Dr Safdar Abbasi (PPP), Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf (PML-Q), Sahibzada Khalid Jan (MMA) and Kulsoom Parvin of (PML-Q).

Mr Zafar said the CCI, which has been dormant for the last many years, should be made functional to resolve contentious issues among provinces under a participatory concept adopted by many countries of the world.

He asked the nation to accept the statement of Dr A.Q. Khan that he made a mistake in the export of nuclear technology and that neither Pakistan as a state nor any government institution was involved in proliferation.

"Dr Khan has again come to help the country, though not as a scientist but as an honourable Pakistani, and has suffered the pain of making admission of error of judgment," said Mr Zafar, who had defended Dr Khan in a Dutch appellate court to get an earlier conviction overturned.

"If we start disbelieving him (Dr A Q Khan) then we make the task of those who want to harm Pakistan easy," Mr Zafar said, adding that it would also be a case of double jeopardy if we disbelieved our scientists and endangered our nuclear assets. We should think over this issue in a non-partisan way as nationalists and as good Pakistanis."

Mr Zafar was of the view that Pakistan was facing an ordeal and passing through a critical period. "But I am not frightened nor do the brave people feel frightened when we are told of the difficult days ahead."

"We can meet and answer all of them and correct the wrong perceptions. In fact we can and we should counter such perceptions not by words but by our deeds and achievements," he said.

Referring to the opposition's allegations that President Musharraf had created a "fear syndrome" in the nation by mentioning four negative perceptions about Pakistan, Mr Zafar said it was the duty of the head of state to inform the people of difficulties lying ahead because to be forewarned meant to be 'fore-armed'.

Dr Safdar Abbasi blamed the military establishment for the perception being created against Pakistan and accused Gen Musharraf of pursuing policies to perpetuate his rule and not to strengthen the democratic institutions as he had promised.

He said sane elements would always resist and challenge the president in the power-game he was playing. He was also bitter that for the first time in the country's history, parliament voted the army chief to serve as president. "Parliament has become a rubber stamp and when it will assert itself, it will be sent packing by the president," he feared.

Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf brushed aside the impression that Pakistan created the phenomenon of "Taliban" and explained that it was a product of circumstances.

The first contact with Taliban was made by PPP interior minister Naseerullah Babar after they established control over Kandahar and other parts of Afghanistan, he said.

The world became uneasy with the Taliban government when they imposed their extremist approach towards religion and tried to establish that it was the real face of Islam.

About the Wana operation, the former ISI chief said the first operation against Arabs and Al Qaeda operatives was launched in 1994 when countries like Egypt and Algeria had accused Pakistan of harbouring criminals. "Even the killer of the late Egyptian President Anwar Saddat was taking refuge in Peshawar at that time."

The then government asked these Arab nationals to either leave the country or they would be apprehended and handed over to their respective countries. "Had they not left, Taliban would have born in Peshawar and Pakistan would be the target of the West," he observed.

It is not the responsibility of Pakistan to restore peace in Afghanistan, he said, because Afghans are happiest when left to themselves. "They are the people who vow not to fight under oath in Kaaba but start fighting the moment they reach their homeland," he deplored.

The successive Afghan governments had always jailed Pakistanis for entering into their country without valid travel documents while we had allowed millions without any documents to take refuge in our country.

Gen Ashraf criticized the role of Jaish-i-Mohammad and Lashkar Toyyaba for damaging the cause of Kashmir by killing innocent Kashmiris, attacking Indian parliament, killing a foreign journalist Daniel Pearl and attacking President Musharraf.

Similarly Laskhar Jhangvi is the product of hate, which is creating zombies by preaching hatred to kill Muslims, he added. He was of the view that "we should quit the policy of posing ourselves as the champions of Muslim Ummah. Instead, we should work to make Pakistan strong."

He described the Quetta killings as shameful and said that even if Indians were involved in the massacre, they were using Muslims against their brethren.