ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: Opposition parties in the Senate on Tuesday vowed to keep up their protest against the military presidency that they said negated the constitution and the parliamentary system of government.
Opposition senators also staged a walkout as a mark of their anger against the passage of the double-office bill which allowed President Pervez Musharraf to remain army chief as well beyond a constitutional deadline of Dec 31.
Before the walkout, several opposition senators spoke on points of order to criticize the controversial 'The President to Hold Another Office Bill', and a major opposition alliance asked the president not to give his assent to the new law to keep his earlier promise to give up his uniform before Dec 31.
The bill was passed by the National Assembly last month and now needs only the presidential assent to become a law, or an act of parliament.
While the opposition stayed out of the senate after the walkout, the conduct of the country's police came under fire form ruling coalition members during a discussion on a member's motion before the upper house was prorogued after a week-long session.
Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Raza Rabbani said his alliance of opposition groups in the Senate as well as the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) did not accept the 17th constitutional amendment passed by parliament last December following an agreement between the government and the MMA.
"Whenever we have the (required) two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament, the 17th amendment will go," he said during a mini-debate after Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro allowed members to speak about issues on points of order.
"Our protest inside and outside parliament will continue until the supremacy of the civilian authority is established," he said.
Speaking earlier, MMA parliamentary leader Prof Khurshid Ahmed said the passage of the twin-office bill had 'put the country's political life in grave difficulty' and asked the president not to give his assent to the new law.
He said the government had lost its credibility by failing to honour its commitment that the president would give up his army office by Dec 31 in a trade-off for MMA's support for the 17th constitutional amendment, which gave parliamentary approval to sweeping powers of the president.
"If the requirements of the 17th amendment are not fulfilled, there will be no credibility...and you will not be able to save this system, and he (the president) will have to leave both offices," he said.
Another MMA senator, Prof Ibrahim Khan said the 17th amendment had lost its validity after the government's about-turn and Gen Musharraf was no longer president or army chief.
"We demand that a senior general be appointed the chief of the army staff and a new president be elected," he said.
Tahira Latif of the Pakistan Muslim League accused politicians of being responsible for military takeovers in the past and said the country had made progress after President Musharraf took power.
"Do you want us to go backwards?" she asked.
Senior PML member Chaudhry Anwar Bhinder won applause from opposition benches when he proposed to Chairman Soomro to allow all opposition adjournment motions come to the house for a debate on their admissibility in order to avoid misuse of points of order, which must be raised only to point out violations of rules of procedure.
During the debate on a motion of senator Mrs Gulshan Saeed seeking to discuss the 'overall performance of police department', Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi said the enforcement of the Police Order-2002 had created a tension between sections of the police force and that basic changes had to be brought to the system, including better salaries for policemen.
He complained that while police could use their immense powers to 'prove a sinner as innocent and an innocent person a sinner', the general public also rarely came forward to give evidence against criminals.
Minister of State for Interior Shahzad Waseem assured the house that better services would be provided to people with the full implementation of the Police Order-2002.
He said the interior ministry was giving priority to improving training facilities and called for suggestions from the members of the upper house.
Mrs Gulshan Saeed accused the police of spreading the crime rather than controlling it and demanded the establishment of a special house committee with links to the interior ministry to help improve the situation.
Chaudhry Anwar Bhinder said no section of the society was satisfied with the police performance and called for the establishment of a special commission to suggest improvement as, according to him, the Police Order had not made the desired impact.
Mrs Tanveer Khalid of PML complained of the police force being over-stretched because of its duties in guarding mosques and VIP travel routes in cities like Karachi.
Senator Mrs Tahira Latif suggested application of Islamic punishment of amputation of hands for theft as done in Saudi Arabia for an effective control of crime. But the suggestion was opposed by her party colleague Mrs Tanveer Khalid.
