June 11, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 25, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 10: National Workers Party President Abid Hasan Manto has said that the current crisis would end “only when the junta departs and the nation regains its sovereignty and the parliament its supremacy”.

Pakistan’s constitution was “not a dumb entity”, he told his party workers in Islamabad on Sunday. “It protests its violation and provides mechanism for its protection and survival. Today we see the masses and the media have united to answer its cries,” he said.

A renowned constitutional lawyer, Mr Manto praised the media for ”baring the dictatorship that parades itself as enlightened moderation. He said, “the clash between the independent media and the purveyors of official truth, between half-truths and lies was inevitable”.

Pakistan had very weak traditions of checks and balances and democracy, he said and suggested that the parliament should control the process of accountability, with the state machinery answerable to parliamentary committees.