LAHORE, June 21: National Security Council Secretary Tariq Aziz defended the body’s existence on Saturday, saying that the government had accepted the opposition’s demand for justifying it through an act of parliament.

The NSC was only a consultative body, and not a decision-making forum. It was subservient to the parliament having a mandate to anticipate and resolve a crisis before it could harm the country’s interests, he said.

Mr Aziz, who is considered a close associate of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and designer of the political system currently prevailing in the country, was speaking at Meet the Press programme of Lahore Press Club in his first ever public discourse anywhere in the country.

He defended the presidency of Gen Pervez Musharraf, and said he was holding the office under constitutional amendments that he had been allowed to make by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. In 1985, the words that Gen Ziaul Haq shall be president were incorporated into the Constitution, he said.

Mr Aziz said the opposition should follow the Quaid-i-Azam who had created Pakistan after convincing everybody through logic. “They should sit in the assemblies and decide the issues instead of thumping desks and shouting.”

About the NSC, he said, bodies like it existed in 20 countries, including the US, where it was formed after the World War II for an integrated view of the state on administrative, internal and external affairs.

In Pakistan, Mr Aziz said, it was first formed by Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto for advice on security and other related issues. Attempts were also made in 1985 and by the later interim governments to form such bodies.

He said the present NSC was different from that of the 1985 and was democratic. The words that its decision would be implemented had now been omitted from its terms of reference, making it only a consultative body aimed at developing a consensus among its members.

Mr Aziz said that as already explained by the president, the body could only suggest to any member, including the president and the prime minister, to correct himself if found off the track. Its meeting could be convened by any member and it was not a supra-constitutional body that the parliament could do away with a two-third majority, he explained.

He said the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly was a member of the NSC, which had not been able to meet because there was none at the moment.

Replying to questions, Mr Aziz said the NSC should exist to avoid crisis. “In its absence you will not be able to avert any major crisis, allowing the president to decide whatever he thinks is right.”

He said that during talks with the government the opposition had agreed to accept the NSC. The government too had agreed to justify it through an act of parliament. That was why the body was not controversial, he said.

Mr Aziz said there was no constitutional crisis in the country. The Supreme Court had validated the Oct 12, 1999, takeover, giving powers to Gen Musharraf to amend the Constitution as and when required.

In response, he said, the Musharraf government had re-introduced constitutional portions that existed before 1999. It created a balance of power between the president and the parliament with the permission of Supreme Court as its absence had caused the 1999 crisis.

Mr Aziz said the government and the opposition had agreed on seven issues, but the dialogue stalled when the latter brought in irrelevant points.

He said Chaudhry Shujaat Husain, being the president of the largest party in the parliament, had already expressed his willingness for a dialogue with the opposition who did not have any right to insist on talking on its own terms.

Mr Aziz refused to admit that he had played any role in designing the present political setup in the country. Had it been so there would not have been a split verdict in all the provinces and the National Assembly, he said.

He said the perception of Musharraf government was that Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had failed to run the country. It had no problem with their parties.

Mr Aziz agreed that the army should play only its constitutional role. But, he added, democracy had not yet taken roots in the country where leaders were not willing to accept the electoral victory of their rivals.

“In real democracy there is no role of army in civilian matters, and we are moving towards this end. You should better decide whether the conduct of the opposition is correct or not and whether it would strengthen democracy or not.”

Mr Aziz said no comprise would ever be made on the country’s nuclear status. It was linked to the nuclear status of India and would continue till New Delhi agreed on disarmament. “So far there has been no pressure from any quarter to roll back Pakistan’s nuclear programme. There is no harm in capping the programme provided all in the region do the same.”

Mr Aziz said there was nothing fishy about the recent visit of Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz to Kahuta.

He would have gone there secretly had there been some hidden agenda, he said.

He also denied the impression that President Musharraf would make a compromise on the Kashmir issue during his current visit to the US. It had been a dead issue when the president put it on central stage of the world, he said.

He said Pakistan would not recognise Israel until all other Muslim states had done so.

Mr Aziz said the Musharraf government could not commission the Kalabagh Dam project because of a lack of consensus among the provinces. The foreign agencies wanted a consensus before providing funds for the purpose, he added.