ISLAMABAD, Nov 8: Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, chief of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), on Friday said there was no constitutional deadlock in the country and added that still if there existed any, it was Gen Pervez Musharraf’s own making.
He was speaking to the reporters at the central secretariat of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) here, where he had gone to meet Imran Khan.
Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said that President Pervez Musharraf had no business to favour a particular party before the transfer of power. “Is there any precedence in Britain where the Queen has ever asked the parties to reach a conclusion before the transfer of power or the Indian president has ever asked Mr Vajpayee or Mrs Sonia Gandhi to sink differences before the transfer of power,” Nawabzada Nasrullah questioned.
Answering a question, Nawabzada Nasrullah said his meeting with Imran Khan focussed on winning his support in the joint struggle for restoration of 1973 Constitution and repealing extra-constitutional actions of military government like holding of referendum and giving army a permanent constitutional role through National Security Counsel (NSC).
“We have to launch a collective struggle against their concept of real genuine and sustainable democracy,” Nawabzada said. “We have complete unanimity of perception to fight for the restoration of the 1973 constitution and the supremacy of parliament,” Nawabzada Nasrullah said. The ARD chief said he would personally come to Imran Khan to invite him to the all parties conference (APC) whenever it was called.
Despite the fact that the newspapers had reported postponement of the National Assembly session on November 8, no official notification was issued by the government or any member received invitation for the session.
Imran Khan suggested that the National Assembly session should be convened as early as possible to discourage horse- trading, as delay was creating a wrong impression among the people about the future of democracy in the country.
The real forum to decide the candidature of the prime ministership was parliament and not the offices of different political parties, Mr Khan said
Imran Khan said that the 1973 constitution envisaged complete procedure for the election of the president and the same should be followed in letter and spirit. Imran said he won the election in the teeth of opposition by the establishment.
To a question about PTI’s support to the future prime minister, Imran said his party had called a meeting of its office- bearers on Sunday to reach final decision in this regard.