LAHORE, Dec 24: ARD President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi has proposed dialogue between the rulers and the opposition parties to find a solution to various problems facing the country and bring an end to the confrontation, which if goes on unabated, may lead to unpredictable disastrous consequences.

Talking to Dawn on Saturday, he warned that the current state of deadlock could also adversely affect the political system.

Mr Hashmi, who is also acting president of the PML-N, advised the rulers to stop fighting against the nation. Instead, he said, they should hold talks with all stakeholders with the main target of restoring the supremacy of the constitution and credibility of the state institutions. “The constitution cannot and should not be rewritten.”

Mr Hashmi said in talks the stakeholders should categorize all problems which should then be resolved in phases, implying that in a complicated situation like the one facing the country at present not all problems could be settled in one go.

Mr Hashmi believed that an agreement on the supremacy of the constitution would make the solution of several other problems easier.

He regretted that most of the state institutions had lost their credibility because of which people did not accept the results of various elections held under the supervision of the present election commission. This should be a matter of serious concern for everybody as the credibility of the electoral process was not challenged even in Afghanistan and Iraq, which were under occupation, and Palestine which had no comparison with Pakistan.

The credibility of the election commission could be restored by giving it all powers, he said.

Without naming anyone but leaving no doubt that he was referring to Gen Musharraf, the PML-N leader said if somebody wanted to stay on as president, he would have to bow to the constitution.

He did not elaborate whether this meant that Gen Musharraf could retain the presidency by getting himself elected through the electoral college explained in the constitution or being a general he was not qualified to hold the post at all.—Ashraf Mumtaz