QUETTA, April 21: President Balochistan High Court Bar Association, Senator Amanullah Kanrani, has demanded that the Legal Framework Order be withdrawn and presidential elections be held under the 1973 Constitution.

Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, he said that without holding the presidential elections and repealing the LFO, real parliamentary democracy could not be restored in the country.

Mr Kanrani said that all the four provincial assemblies and the Senate, with equal voting power, constituted the electoral college for the presidential elections. By not conducting this election, the government was denying the three small federating units their democratic right.

The BHCBA chief said the Supreme Court had allowed the military government to amend the Constitution just for running the day-to-day affairs of the country for three years, and had not permitted changing of the Constitution’s basic structure.

“The LFO is completely illegal and will affect the parliamentary and democratic spirit of the Constitution,” Mr Kanrani said.

He said if the LFO was not repealed, it would harm the national unity. Restoration of the 1973 Constitution was necessary for maintaining this unity, he remarked.

Gen Musharraf should first resign as COAS and then, after a two-year gap, contest the presidential election,” Mr Kanrani told a questioner.

When his attention was drawn towards the fact that Balochistan governor was appointed the next day of retirement from the army, he said it was also illegal and unconstitutional.

He said his association will accept the LFO if parliament adopted it. Claiming that there will be no crisis following LFO’s repeal, he said only the president and the Chief Justice of Pakistan would get affected.

The senior vice president of BHCBA, Humayun Tareen, and other office-bearers were also present at the press conference.