ISLAMABAD, Aug 8: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Wednesday vowed to resist President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s re-election from the present assemblies with full force, saying the party would not become a part of such “unconstitutional moves”.
Talking to a group of reporters at the Parliament House cafeteria here on Wednesday, acting PML-N president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi said the battle to oppose Gen Musharraf’s re-election would be fought in the legal as well as people’s courts.
“We cannot even think of taking part in any process leading to the re-election of Gen Musharraf,” Mr Hashmi said, adding that soon the opposition parties would finalise a joint strategy with the lawyers’ representative bodies to foil Gen Musharraf’s plan and to stop this intended violation of the constitution.
Mr Hashmi, who was released on Saturday on the Supreme Court’s order after undergoing 45 months’ imprisonment on charges of inciting mutiny against army, said that Pakistan was today facing a “now or never situation” and therefore, the political parties must play their due role.
He admitted that most of the concerns and reservations of the people about the role of political parties were true. He said if the political parties continued to play same role then every one would be responsible if any damage caused to the country’s integrity.
Replying to a question, Mr Hashmi said those government ministers who claimed that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif had gone abroad after signing a deal with the regime should present the so-called accord before the nation.
He said the petition filed by the PML-N in the Supreme Court seeking permission for the return of Sharif brothers had provided a golden opportunity to the ministers to present the agreement before the court. “We will expose all these people who have been claiming that they had even seen the signatures of Nawaz Sharif on the agreement,” he said.
PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal in a statement said the era of uniformed president was over. He said that Gen Musharraf’s statement that he would get re-elected in uniform was an insult to the Pakistani nation’s self respect and abuse of constitution.
Mr Iqbal said the heroic struggle of lawyers, civil society and political workers had changed the aspirations and hopes of the nation due to which a new democratic culture was on horizon in which there was no room for military dictatorship.
He said Gen Musharraf could neither be elected in uniform nor without uniform, likewise neither the present assembly could elect him nor could the next assembly elect him. The constitution, he said, clearly barred any government employee from being eligible for public office.
Similarly, he said, after resigning from government service a ban of two years applied for eligibility. “If Gen Musharraf thinks he is eligible to contest election then all military and civil officers should also be considered eligible for contesting election,” he said. The PML-N has convened a meeting of the party’s Central Working Committee in Islamabad on Thursday to review the political situation.
PPP REJOINDER: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) has also responded harshly to Gen Musharraf’s statement that party chairperson Benazir Bhutto will not be allowed to return until after the elections.
