ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Q has said that it intends to move a bill in the National Assembly requiring the president to certify that no compromise has been made on the country’s sovereignty, security and nuclear programme.
 
‘In response to the humiliating conditions of Kerry Lugar bill, the PML-Q will table a bill in the National Assembly asking the president to issue a certificate every year that the country’s security, sovereignty and nuclear programme are not being influenced by any foreign country,’ the party’s secretary-general Mushahid Hussain  told a press conference here at the PML House.
 
The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Wasim Sajjad was also present. Mr Hussain said the party was following an issue-based political philosophy as a robust opposition to protect national interests.

Dismissing fears of any threat to democracy, the PML-Q leader said the government should learn lessons from its past mistakes and ensure supremacy of parliament, adding that the opposition was ready to support all of its positive initiatives.

‘We are ready to cooperate with any political force just as we supported the government’s committee on Balochistan,’ he said.
 
Mr Hussain said the government should make efforts to regain its lost respect because the withdrawal of NRO, retreat on the Kerry-Lugar bill and the loss of its coalition partners’ support had damaged its image.

‘The government has lost all moral grounds … It now only has a legal argument for being in power. Rulers must not repeat past mistakes,’ he added.
 
Elaborating upon the bill, Senator Wasim Sajjad said it had already been presented in the Senate, adding that it would also be submitted in the National Assembly.

He said the bill was aimed at countering concerns regarding the Kerry-Lugar bill and over ‘foreign influence’ in promotions and transfers in the armed forces.
 
He said there was no threat to President Asif Zardari because he was holding the highest executive office.