ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: There is no proposal under consideration to extend the assemblies’ tenure and President Pervez Musharraf is not considering the option of imposing martial law, according to president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
Addressing a press conference at the Punjab House on Wednesday, the PML chief said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had denied the statement attributed to him in reports about his meeting with newspaper editors in Lahore regarding his being a candidate for the post of prime minister in the next set-up.
Rejecting reports about some PML lawmakers’ decision not to vote for President Musharraf’s re-election, he said: “Everyone is free to express his opinion,” adding that the PML was a “well-organised party and discipline will be demonstrated during the presidential election”.
Chaudhry Shujaat said that while PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto was engaged in talks with President Musharraf, but no agreement had yet been reached.
He said that he had not advised the president to impose emergency but had “only pointed out that it is a constitutional option”, adding that the president had rejected it and termed it impractical.
Referring to the presidential election, he said: “Everything will be done in accordance with constitutional provisions.”
