HYDERABAD, Dec 23: PML-N MNA Memoona Hashmi has demanded that either general elections or a referendum should be held to seek opinion of the people whether this parliament has the powers to amend the Constitution.
She said that the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy would oppose the constitutional amendment package when it was presented before the house, and demanded that a commission should be constituted to investigate the Kargil debacle as had been done in India.
Ms Hashmi, who is the daughter of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, was speaking at a press conference at the residence of a party leader, Afzal Gujjar, here on Tuesday.
Severely criticizing the army generals for what she said usurping the rights of the people, she said that a propaganda campaign had been going on that democracy had been restored notwithstanding the fact all the decisions were taken at the GHQ.
She said that a coterie of those people had been got elected who were ready to say “yes sir” as they were wanted by the National Accountability Bureau.
Rejecting the Legal Framework Order, she said that the document contained the ordinances issued by an individual who had no right to rule over the people.
Ms Hashmi accused the generals of usurping the people’s right to rule in order to perpetuate their own rule over the country.
She traced the history of former generals like Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Ziaul Haque, saying that they had dealt severe blows to the country by introducing their system of governance. She added that Pakistan was dismembered when the people raised their voice against injustices committed against them by the military rulers.
She was critical of the initiatives being taken by government to normalize relations with India and alleged that the rulers had bowed down before the Indian prime minister.
Criticizing the arrests of the nuclear scientists, she said that it was a shameful act with those people who had given the country the status of nuclear power.
The PML-N leader alleged that the scientists had been handed over to the intelligence agencies of a foreign country and they were being interrogated by the US investigators.
She said that such a compromise with super powers was deplorable and added that it was Nawaz Sharif who had kept the nuclear programme going after it was initiated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
She said that the PML-N regarded the army as an institution but it opposed those who were being inducted as chiefs of civil institutions to get perks and privileges while common man was deprived of his rights.
She claimed that around one million people had been rendered jobless while 40 per cent population was living below poverty line.
Condemning the arrest of her father, she wondered why the generals were not ready to do their job— to defend the frontiers— and let the politicians do their work.
Answering a question about the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal-government parleys over the LFO, she said: “It is difficult to say at this point of time whether the MMA is being used by the president to give his decisions a constitutional and legal cover through the LFO unless a package is finalized between two sides.”
Ms Hashmi said that the MMA had made commitments to its electorate and it was answerable to its constituents.
She pointed out that the ARD was not ready to accept the uniformed president as well as the LFO because it was nothing but the collection of ordinances.
She said that if President Gen Pervez Musharraf was allowed to make such amendments, another dictator in future could present his LFO to again amend the Constitution.