KARACHI, Sept 21: Chief of the People’s Party Parliamentarians Makhdoom Amin Fahim on Sunday rejected the government’s claim that Gen Musharraf had been vested with powers to amend the Constitution by the Supreme Court and that LFO was part of the basic document.

The PPP leader said that the country was passing though a serious constitutional deadlock, which had become critical since Gen Pervez Musharraf flouted the oath of allegiance to the Constitution and started meddling in politics.

He said that if the Constitution was left in its original form, the issue of violation of the oath would have been debated in the Parliament.

Talking to newsmen at his residence, he said that any attempt to create what he termed an artificial majority would create an even greater crisis and expressed the hope that the people would support democratic forces against those who do not respect constitution and want to impose their own will.

He said that on Sept 25, Alliance for Restoration of Democracy will hold its meeting in Islamabad and discuss the prevailing political situation.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim termed the government’s attempt to impose the LFO an extra-constitutional step and insisted that the Supreme Court had not given him that authority. His contended that when the apex court itself had no such power, how could it give that power to an individual.

He said that after the demise of the sub-committee, which had conducted negotiations with the government, the MMA was holding negotiations with the government alone. They have to discuss the document handed over to them by the government.

Asked that when MMA was discussing its own agenda, and not the collective agenda of the combined opposition, with the government, why should it be binding on other opposition parties, Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had shown flexibility to save the system and were even prepared to provide a way out on basic irritants such as holding of dual posts of the army chief and the president, the National Security Council, and discretionary powers under 58(2)(b) etc.

But the PPP and the PML- N were not prepared to accept that they were totally opposed to these powers demanded by the regime, he added.