LAHORE, March 11: The opposition should not compromise on the LFO issue even if the democratic system in vogue is wrapped up by the “military dictator”, said ANP president Ehsan Wyne while talking to Dawn here on Tuesday.
He warned PML-Q president Shujaat Husain that democracy could never be restored in the presence of the LFO.
Congratulating the MMA, PPP and the PML-N for putting up resistance against the LFO, he said their struggle would guarantee protection of democratic norms and institutions and the very integrity of the country.
“The general does not know that integrity of the country is intact due to the parliamentary system which guarantees autonomy to all the four provinces. And if he is granted sweeping powers, as proposed in the LFO, it will harm the system igniting separatist movements. This was what happened in the case of the East Pakistan.”
Arguing that Gen Musharraf and the PML-Q should prove their patriotism by taking the LFO to the parliament for an open discussion, he expressed his belief that the opposition would pass the amendments in the best interest of the country.
Reiterating his party’s stance that its senators would not take oath under the LFO-amended constitution, the ANP chief said the amendments would make the Pakistan Army more powerful than the Turkish.
“The Turkish army has been benevolent for its country on many occasions besides winning territory for its nation. On the other hand, our army has done nothing except bifurcating the country in 1971 and losing more territory to the enemy afterwards,” he said.
Saying there was no harm in placing the LFO before elected representatives, he reminded Gen Musharraf that two former army dictators Gen Ayub Khan and Gen Ziaul Haq had also got their proposed amendments to the constitution approved by the then parliaments.
Criticizing the three-year extension of the tenure of Supreme Court judges, Mr Wyne, a known lawyer, feared that the step would not only be damaging for the country but also for the judiciary as the masses would lose confidence in the institution.
He urged the judges not to accept the extension for it was also against the SC verdict by which the apex court had legalized the army takeover.
He said that challenging the LFO in the court would prove futile as the judges accepting the extension would have already approved the army dictator’s controversial order.
Urging the government to vote for Iraq in the Security Council, the ANP chief said the government should clearly say that it did not support the war mania of Bush and stood with the peace-loving people of the world.
He said his party was not in favour of Saddam Hussain who, he said, was an American agent who attacked Iran and then invaded Kuwait on the directions of his master.
He called on Saddam to step down and seek asylum for the sake of his innocent countrymen.
The ANP considered the impending US attack a criminal act that was aimed at seizing the natural resources of the Middle East and Central and South Asia, he said.
Terming President Bush’s attitude towards humanity “abnormal”, he said the world and the UN must be saved from him.
