ISLAMABAD, Jan 8: The military regime has tried to hoodwink the international community and the people of Pakistan by making Legal Framework Order (LFO) a part of the Constitution.

This was stated by the coordinator of PPP Human Rights Cell and MNA Fauzia Wahab in a letter to Commonwealth secretary- general Don Mckinnon. She said the bill also asked for validation of all orders passed by the military government on the plea that such orders had been passed in "good faith". However, this concept of "good faith" was not being allowed to former elected prime ministers who were persecuted on this account.

The PPP leader stated: "Last year, in the month of May, while giving an interview to a private TV channel, Benazir Bhutto, chairperson of Pakistan People's Party, said whatever claim Gen Musharraf was making about politicians and democracy, he would still have to seek help from them for indemnification."

However, the ISPR maintained that "the army does not need to seek help from politicians", and that "they do not require indemnification from anybody", she added. "The Supreme Court has given them the authority to bring any kind of change to the Constitution," was claimed by them.

But this claim was exposed when the bill for the 17th amendment was presented to the National Assembly, Ms Wahab said. She said the joint opposition had been engaged in a relentless struggle on the LFO issue since the assembly came into being.

She further wrote that there were 29 'contentious' clauses in the Legal Framework Order, on which the opposition parties had reservation and wanted a public debate. Most of these clauses were aimed at undermining the sovereignty of the parliament and enhancing the powers of the president.

The ARD was the torchbearer of the struggle. Gauging the public sentiment, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal sided with the ARD in the assembly and was most vociferous on the LFO, the PPP leader stated. "But the treasury benches refrained from talking to the ARD, and preferred to talk to the MMA on this issue," she added.

The negotiations started in May, and lingered on till the 24th of December. It was announced that the LFO issue had been settled and Gen Musharraf had agreed to bring LFO to the floor of the assembly. The announcement should have been made by the prime minister, but instead, Gen Musharraf himself made this announcement in a special address to the nation, Ms Wahab stated.

"The MMA, which had always been hand-in-gloves with the Army, finally sold out the assembly's sovereignty in return for all the favours they had been overtly and covertly been receiving from the military regime. On the 26th of the same month the bill was presented for debate."