LAHORE, Dec 14: The PML-N on Friday unveiled its manifesto, promising restoration of all deposed judges, abolition of the National Security Council, preview and approval of the defence budget by the National Assembly and restoration of the 1973 Constitution.
Salient features of the manifesto were announced by Mian Nawaz Sharif at a press conference here.
He said after coming into power his party would set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to examine military coups and ‘illegal removal’ of governments over the past two decades and to acknowledge victims of torture, ‘state-sponsored’ persecution and ‘politically-motivated’ accountability.
Mr Sharif said his party would restore the 1973 Constitution as it stood before the Oct 12, 1999, coup and curtail, if not totally abolish, the Concurrent List in the Constitution. It would repeal the Legal Framework Order 2000 and the 17th Amendment.
Declaring the restoration of deposed judges as the top priority of his party, he pledged never to endorse the ‘emergency-plus’ measures taken by President Pervez Musharraf, saying that his party’s nominees would take an oath on this important issue.
He said the PML-N would restore the Cabinet Committee on Defence and National Security headed by prime minister.
The strength of Senate, he said, would be increased to give representation to minorities, while allocation of seats to parties would be made on the basis of proportional representation.
The same formula, he said, would be applied to seats reserved for women in all assemblies.
Mr Sharif said that while the use of force against foreign and local terrorists and to prevent infiltration along the borders was necessary, his party considered that winning hearts and minds of the people through political engagement was more important.
Other features of the manifesto are:
--Constituting a Federal Constitutional Court with equal representation of each province to resolve constitutional issues and abolition of all special courts, including anti-terrorism and accountability courts, and referring all such cases to ordinary courts;
— Revamping the Election Commission and the National Accountability Bureau and appointing their chairmen in consultation with the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly;
— Constituting a commission to identify causes of and to fix the responsibility for the Kargil fiasco;
— Closing all election cells in intelligence and military establishments and removing the ban on the third term for the office of the prime minister; and
— Depoliticising bureaucracy and giving a constitutional cover to jobs of all civil servants and withdrawing all discretionary power at all levels.
