30 April 2005	Saturday	20 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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ISLAMABAD, April 29: The former speaker of the National Assembly and senior vice-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, has said the present parliament is not functioning independently as the speaker has no powers.

Speaking at a news conference with MNA Sherry Rehman and in-charge of the PPP Media Cell Nazir Dhoki here on Friday, the former speaker said no outside agencies should be allowed to interfere in the affairs of parliament.

Mr Gillani, who was released from Adiyala Jail on a three- day parole on Wednesday night to attend a family wedding, said the powers of the present speaker were being used by some other people, which was evident from the recent incident in which a woman was sent to jail for mistakenly entering the assembly hall despite the chair’s ruling that no case should be registered against her.

He said Sardar Bahadur Khan, who was presiding over the session when the incident occurred, had stated in the press that sending the woman to jail was a violation of his ruling.

“Who ordered her arrest from the National Assembly, (if not by the speaker)?” he asked. This incident, he said, was an example of the powerlessness of the speaker. He said the speaker should be allowed to function independently otherwise the parliament could not become sovereign.

In response to a question regarding reports that the PPP was holding talks with the establishment, Mr Gillani said there was a difference between a “deal” and “contacts”. He said the PPP did not believe in striking deals. “I personally opposed to any kind of a deal”, he added. He said the PPP would never take a solo flight and other component parties of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) would also be taken into confidence, if anything materialized from these contacts.

The former speaker said the politicians’ job was to construct bridges and not walls. In politics, he said, the doors for negotiations were never closed. However, he said, the talks should be based on principles. He said the PPP’s policy was very clear that it rejected the 17th Constitutional Amendment and was against holding of the two offices by the president.

The ex-speaker said the PPP was demanding fresh polls in the country as early as possible because the 2002 elections were massively rigged and manipulated.

Mr Gillani said he had no regret for undergoing imprisonment for providing jobs to the people. He said he would not beg for mercy before any one as he was satisfied and believed that he had not done anything wrong. He said the National Assembly was not a division or a government department and it was an independent institution. He said there were similar charges against some of the members of the ruling party, but they were even allowed to contest the polls.

Mr Gillani said the government had failed on all fronts. He said the performance of all the institutions, including the parliament and judiciary, was “unsatisfactory.”

The PPP leader said he believed in two-party system. He said when there was a two-party system in the country before the military take-over, all religious, nationalist and regional parties were supporting either of the two parties. He said there was a time when Jamaat-i-Islami was supporting the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) while Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) was supporting the PPP government. However, he said, the two-party system was intentionally eliminated from the country.

Meanwhile, Mr Gillani held meetings with ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, PML-N leader Chaudhry Jafar Iqbal, president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association Justice (retired) Fakharun Nisa and executive committee chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council Hamid Khan on Friday.

It may be mentioned that Mr Gillani is undergoing a seven- year imprisonment at Adiyala Jail for allegedly making illegal appointments and misuse of official car.