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| December 19, 2006 | Tuesday | Ziqa'ad 27, 1427 |
SC overstepped its authority: Fazl
PESHAWAR, Dec 18: The Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, said on Monday that the Supreme Court had overstepped its authority by issuing an interim order against the Hasba Bill and directing the NWFP governor not to assent to it.
"The Supreme Court has the powers to interpret a law or a section of a law. But it does not have the powers to suspend a bill," said Maulana Fazl while talking to newsmen at the Frontier House.
Accusing the apex court of practising double standards, he wondered why a stay order had not been issued by the Supreme Court about the Protection of Women Act which had been rejected by noted religious scholars.
"All the steps adopted by the provincial government are constitutional and people have given them the mandate to legislate," the opposition leader said, adding that the Hasba Bill had been passed by the provincial assembly in accordance with the aspirations of the masses.
He said the NWFP government had respected the recommendations of the apex court in an earlier reference by removing a number of provisions. But, he added, anti-Islamic forces were still opposing the bill.
He said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government was determined to fight a long-drawn legal battle over the bill.
Meanwhile, Maulana Fazl issued a blunt warning to President Gen Pervez Musharraf that he risks radicalising the country if he alienates religious leaders.
In an interview with the The Daily Telegraph he said: “With his poisonous propaganda against the religious parties, President Musharraf is trying to widen the gap between the religious circles and the liberals in the country.”
The president’s call to people to support moderates followed demands from the West to bring more secular parties into a broad-based political agreement in elections scheduled for the end of next year.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman said he held the key to the country's policy of bringing peace to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where American and Nato troops were battling an increasingly virulent insurgency. “We have been helping create agreements throughout tribal areas and what do we get in return? President Musharraf calls us dangerous,” he added.
During the interview the maulana accused President Musharraf of deceiving his allies in the war against terror. “Dressed in uniform, the general is championing the cause of democracy but the nations of the world take no serious notice,” he said and added: “He has been fooling the Western world.”
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