28 August 2004	Saturday	11 Rajab 1425

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LAHORE, Aug 27: Two former National Assembly speakers are of the view that incarcerated ARD president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi should have been produced in the house , and by not doing so Chaudhry Amir Husain had shown that he was working as custodian of government's interests rather than the house's.

Syed Yousaf Reza Gilani, who was speaker during the second PPP rule, said while talking to reporters that the argument that Mr Hashmi was a convict and thus could not be brought to the house held no water.

He recalled that the ARD leader had not been produced even when he was still to be sentenced.

Mr Gilani said that despite being convicted Mr Hashmi was still a member of the National Assembly. He said the NA speaker's ruling was against the rules and betrayed malafide intentions.

He advised the opposition leaders not to take the matter to a court of law as such a step could be dangerous for the prestige of the legislature. In case a court overturned the impugned ruling, the NA speaker would lose for good his powers to interpret the rules, he warned.

He said the NA rules enjoyed protection of Article 88 of the Constitution and the speaker alone was competent to interpret them. Mr Gilani said that as speaker he issued production orders for Sheikh Rashid despite the fact that he had been convicted.

Former speaker Syed Fakhr Imam said since Mr Hashmi had been declared eligible to contest the election for the office of the prime minister and not unseated, it would have been better if he was produced in the house when the legislators were casting their votes.

Mr Imam said Mr Hashmi's presence would have lent credibility to the electoral process. The spirit of democracy required the NA speaker to order production of Mr Hashmi in the house, Mr Imam said.