ISLAMABAD, May 17: The People’s Party Parliamentarians and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) have criticized the promulgation of the Removal from Service (Special Powers) (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2003, under which the powers to sack government employees have been transferred to the prime minister.

Talking to Dawn, PPP MNA Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan said his party considered the act encroachment on the rights of civil servants. He said the ordinance had been promulgated by President Gen Pervez Musharraf under clause-1 of Article 89 and it would have to be brought before the National Assembly within four months. He said that in the presence of parliament there was no need to promulgate ordinances.

Senator Farhatullah Babar said the PPP had condemned the law when it was first promulgated by Gen Musharraf and it also opposed it now, when the words “chief executive” had been replaced with “prime minister.”

“Sacking powers in the hands of one person is a violation of basic rights of civil servants and transfer of these powers to the prime minister will not alter the plight of the civil servants as they will be subjected to removal arbitrarily,” he said.

Acting president of the PML-N, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, said ordinances were always called “bad laws.”

He said the PML-N believed that powers should be held by institutions and not individuals.