LAHORE, June 2: PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal says the present assemblies are not competent to elect Gen Musharraf for another term as legislators whose own term is five years cannot extend the general’s tenure to a decade.

“In case the general seeks reelection from the present assemblies, it will be the worst kind of rigging,” he said at a news conference here on Friday.

Asked whether the PPP and the PML-N would lend support to any constitutional amendment to be decided by the government to implement any part of the Charter of Democracy, Ahsan said the CoD was a package that would have to be enforced in its entirety.

“The dismissal of Gen Musharraf as the army chief on Oct 12, 1999, had landed the country in the situation prevailing at present. Will the signatories of the CoD still want the prime minister to have the power to sack the army chief at will?” a reporter asked.

Ahsan said the CoD committed the signatories to restoring the Constitution in its pre-coup shape, which clearly meant that the prime minister would have all those powers that he was enjoying on the day the elected government was overthrown.

About the fate of the cases pending against the two former prime ministers in case either of the two parties came to power, Ahsan said they would be decided in a transparent manner. He made it clear that politically motivated cases would be withdrawn.

When it was pointed out that statements made by Nawaz and Shahbaz that the army, not any politician, was responsible for the dismemberment of the country, and this showed a shift in the PML stand which always blamed the PPP for the tragedy, Ahsan said: “The rulers in power at the time (of the tragedy) were to be blamed.”

He did not agree with the suggestion that for the MMA there was nothing new in the CoD. He said MMA president Qazi Husain Ahmad had welcomed the document when it was released. He said ARD leaders would meet other parties and remove their reservations about the CoD.

Asked if in future the ARD would cooperate with only those parties that cooperated for the CoD, the PML-N information secretary said the opposition alliance’s foremost priority was the free and fair elections under the supervision of an interim government.

He said the ARD would strive to gather all political forces on one platform. He said any party deviating from the CoD would be digging its political grave.