ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: Commonwealth Secretary-General Don Mckinnon has termed the bill, passed by the National Assembly enabling President Gen Pervez Musharraf to retain his military uniform beyond December 31, 2004, "short of expectations."
Talking to a small group of reporters after his meeting with a six-member delegation of opposition leaders belonging to the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) here on Saturday, the Commonwealth secretary-general said that he had not come to Pakistan to endorse Gen Pervez Musharraf's government.
Mr Mckinnon, who made a very short statement after his 55- minute meeting with the ARD leaders, refused to answer questions of the journalists and left the venue.
The secretary-general said that he had the opportunity of meeting a lot of people in Pakistan and made it clear that he had come to seek positive re-engagement of Pakistan in the Commonwealth after its rejoining.
"We will continue to support efforts for strengthening of political and democratic institutions (in Pakistan). In the context of the 17th Amendment, the bill on uniform passed by the (Pakistani) parliament falls short of expectations."
Earlier, the opposition delegation, headed by ARD chairman and People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) president Makhdoom Amin Fahim, briefed the Commonwealth secretary general on the prevailing political situation in the country.
Other members of the delegation were: PPP Secretary-General Raja Pervez Ashraf, Senator Enver Baig, PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, acting parliamentary leader of PML-N Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, and PML-N information secretary Siddiqul Farooque.
Later, Makhdoom Amin Fahim told the reporters that the ARD had presented its viewpoint to the Commonwealth secretary general in detail.
"We told Mr McKinnon that people in Pakistan have been disappointed with your statement issued after the meeting with the government representatives on Friday," Mr Fahim said.
The ARD chairman said that Mr McKinnon was told that there was no democracy in the country as a serving army general was calling the shots. The ARD members apprised the Commonwealth secretary-general that the bill on uniform was bulldozed by the government in parliament and the opposition was not given opportunity to speak on it, Mr Fahim said.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Mr McKinnon was informed that the government had passed the bill on uniform with a simple majority whereas change in the constitution could only be made through a two-thirds majority.
Mr Khan said the opposition had requested the Commonwealth secretary-general that if they could not denounce a military rule then at least they should not "indemnify" acts of a military government.
PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said that they had told Mr McKinnon that the opposition parties were not against Pakistan's re-entry into the Commonwealth. The opposition, he said, believed that by passing the bill on uniform, the government had set a wrong precedent for future military rulers.
