PESHAWAR, July 14: The major political parties have outrightly rejected the proposed constitutional amendments.
Awami National Party (ANP) Information Secretary Haji Mohammad Adeel said that except National Security Council’s structure the president had repeated most of his earlier claims during his address to the nation.
The ANP was opposed to the ‘surgery’ made by one person into the Constitution, he added.
“In a democratic setup, parliament plays role of watchdog, but Gen Musharraf wants to give more than this to a non-elected body, under the title of NSC. It is an attempt to roll back the federal parliamentary system in the country”, he commented.
He said India had such a council led by its prime minister. Indian defence, finance, interior and external affairs ministers were members of that body which, he said, dealt with security matters.
“We need such an NSC wherein armed forces should be represented by the defence minister instead of three forces chiefs. The prime minister should head this council. The opposition leaders at both houses, the National Assembly and Senate, be given representation on this national forum”, Haji Adeel said.
NWFP Pakistan People’s Party chief Khwaja Mohammad Khan Hoti said the proposed amendments would be an insult to the prime minister and parliament, and the nation would reject them.
Mr Hoti said Gen Musharraf had opted for a destructive mode in carrying out American agenda, and urged the government to refrain from taking the ultra-constitutional steps, instead to hold free-and-fair elections in the country.
The Constitution had been adopted by the four federating units, and any amendment to it would deprive the parliament of its independence and autonomy, he added.
He said that even the Supreme Court could neither make any amendment to it nor empower anybody to do so. Only the elected parliament had right to amendment the Constitution, he added.
The rulers, he said, wanted to introduce a controlled democracy in the country by depriving the parliament of its rights, but the PPP would resist all such moves in the name of real democracy.
Mr Hoti urged the rulers not to tamper with the Constitution and hand over power to an interim government which should hold free, fair and transparent elections.
Nowshera District Bar Association has also rejected any basic change in the Constitution, and termed the proposed package an assault on the national document.
Bar President Kifayat Ali Khan and General Secretary Iftikhar Ali Khan, at a hurriedly called meeting, said Gen Musharraf had no right to bring any change into the Constitution.
The bar endorsed the strike call to be observed by the lawyers on July 15.
Jamiat Ulema Islam (F) Information Secretary Jalil Jan said his party, too, was opposed to all dictatorial measures, and it would resist any amendment to the Constitution.