KARACHI: Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said yesterday [Feb 9] that the state of emergency will not be allowed to last a day longer than was “absolutely necessary”. In the meantime, he said, the Government was eager to prevent the misuse of powers under the DPR [Defence of Pakistan Rules] and added that although law and order was a provincial subject, the Federal Government will “weigh the possibility of so controlling the application of DPR that, as far as is humanly possible, they will not be misused.” The Prime Minister was inaugurating the first two-day Pakistan Jurists Conference held under the auspices of Pakistan Bar Council... .

[Meanwhile, as reported from Islamabad,] Finance Minister Mubashir Hasan said in the National Assembly today [Feb 9] that the present Government wanted to find political solution of each political problem. … The Minister’s observations came after two Opposition Members … pressed for fixation of a date for debate on Baluchistan’s situation. … Dr Mubashir said the debate on Baluchistan would “definitely” be held. The Government and the National Assembly, he said, were committed to the principle of doing everything democratically.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2024