LAHORE, July 14: PML-QA president Mian Azhar has supported amendments to the Constitution for checks and balances.

Speaking at a workers convention here on Sunday, he said the Article 58-2(B) should be implemented with a slight amendment that in case of serious charges only prime minister or chief ministers and their cabinets should be sacked instead of dissolving the assemblies.

The convention was a poor show of discipline as participants continued raising slogans in favour of their leaders despite repeated appeals.

Mian Azhar said he would promote a consultation process within the party and after coming into power would devise policies for various sectors in the light of workers recommendations.

He announced that even candidates for national and provincial assemblies would be finalized on the advice of the workers of the respective constituencies.

He criticized PML-N leaders for joining hands with the PPP they had been declaring as a security risk. He said they had no interest in Pakistan.

He said party manifesto which contained solutions to masses’ problems had been completed. He said the party workers had to learn from the past 15 years’ mistakes and plan for the future in their light.

Punjab president Pervez Illahi said the leaders who were abroad, whichsoever the party they belonged to, had no right to talk on the internal issues of the country.

Giving credit to the PML-QA for the restoration of democracy as a result of elections on Oct 10, he said the party had adopted a policy of cooperation and dialogue instead of confrontation thus convincing the army government to restore democracy after three years.

He said the party had reservations about some constitutional amendments and it would continue to make efforts to convince the government to review changes in the Basic Law.

Former MNA Tariq Aziz termed the qualification bar on contesting elections unnatural and urged Gen Musharraf to review the same.

Lahore district Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood said party’s elected councillors from Lahore were ready for the Oct 10 polls to show their strength in the city. He claimed that poll results in Lahore would be 100 per cent in favour of the PML-QA.

Punjab secretary-general Arshad Lodhi said after coming into power, the party would give a special programme to eradicate unemployment and backwardness. He announced that PML-QA workers would be exempted from merit in every sector.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Lahore president Akhtar Rasool, Punjab women’s wing president Nasim Lodhi, provincial vice-president Mehnaz Rafi and labour wing chief Faqir Husain Bukhari. —Staff Reporter