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| 15 March 2004 | Monday | 23 Muharram 1425 |
Fate of NSC bill hangs in balance: Muttahida said to have reservations
ISLAMABAD, March 14: Sources in the Muttahida Qaumi Movement said on Sunday that the party had a number of reservations on the draft National Security Council bill which the government wants to present to the National Assembly during the current session.
"The MQM feels that since it was neither consulted nor taken into confidence over the draft bill, it would be very difficult for its members to contribute meaningfully during the NSC debate in the National Assembly. Therefore, it has decided to refrain from attending the NA at least during the next week when it believes the bill will be tabled," the sources said.
Another reason for the MQM's decision not to attend the NA session next week, the sources said, was that many of the MQM MNAs would be busy in Karachi where a number of local body bye- elections are being held over the next couple of weeks. Therefore, it would not be possible for them to attend the NA for the next week or so.
Sources in the ruling alliance said that the government would perhaps not table the draft NSC bill in the absence of the MQM members because, in their opinion, it would be almost impossible for the government to get the bill through with the MMA and ARD opposing it inside the NA, and the MQM sitting outside.
When contacted by Dawn on phone, an attendant of MQM MNA Dr Farooq Sattar said that "a leadership meeting was in progress at the MQM headquarters 90, and it would only be clear after that meeting is over, whether the party MNAs will return to Islamabad on Monday or not."
News reports have suggested that the MQM had been (quietly) boycotting the National Assembly proceedings for the last four days after developing some serious differences with the Jamali government on the shape of the NSC draft bill.
Though the MQM office in Karachi has denied any such differences on the NSC but the fact remains that the party MNAs, including its two ministers, remained away from the House proceedings and none of them has been seen in the lower House in the last few days.
The MQM, the sources said, may have put up some demands including additional ministerial slots and some other benefits for supporting the government in getting the NSC bill passed in parliament.
The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has already announced its opposition to the NSC and the deputy parliamentary leader of the MMA, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed told Dawn that the religious alliance was not committed to supporting the NSC bill under its agreement with the government on the LFO since it was to be passed by a simple majority.
The MMA leader said, "we have opposed the NSC as a constitutional body and we are determined to oppose the draft bill on the floor of the House when it is tabled to be passed as an act of Parliament."
He said that during the talks on the LFO, the government had given an impression that the NSC would be an advisory body, but what the cabinet had approved is an extra-constitutional body which would clip the powers of parliament and damage the spirit of democracy.
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