KOHAT, May 1: Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Federal Minister for Water and Power, has said that the Legal Framework Order is the part of the 1973 Constitution under which the present parliament has been elected and that the president will take off his uniform according to an announced roadmap at an appropriate time.
Addressing a public meeting at the Cavagnari House here on Thursday, the federal minister and chief of his own faction of the Pakistan People’s Party exhorted the opposition to pay attention to problems of the common man instead of exploiting the LFO for personnel reasons as they had been working under similar amendments in the past under the long rule of Gen Zia-ul-Haq and Ayub Khan.
He regretted that on the one hand the Opposition was making hue and cry that the constitution had been distorted whereas on the other hand they had sent their daughters and sons to parliament who took oath under the same LFO without raising a word at that time.
He asked the Opposition leaders to adopt a legal course to deal with the situation without harming the sanctity of parliament and amend the constitution through a two-thirds majority in the assembly and let parliament function normally.
He said the country was faced with more serious issues and it was time to work for the people and the country and enable the nation to face future challenges on the international political and economic front.
He said Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and Islamic ideology would remain the corner-stone of policies of the government. He said changing the uniform at schools was no service to Islam.
He said that during the last three years the country had gained a lot of respect in the world due to its principled stand against terrorism and the economy had strengthened very much. “It will take some time to pass on the relief to common man but I am sure that it will happen soon and the people will become prosperous,” he stated.
He said the devolution plans that of Gen Zia-ul-Haq was a ploy to satisfy the Opposition whereas the present district governments were working for the betterment of society and solution of problems of the people and the administrative powers had been transferred to Nazims in real sense.
He said President Musharraf was more sincere in his efforts to make the state institutions and parliament strong and he had no intentions to rule the country as a tyrant but wants an overhauling of the political system.
He said that due to the mediation of the US the Kashmir issue would be solved by the year 2004 and recent contacts between Indian and Pakistan prime ministers to break the deadlock was a good omen.
He announced that Wapda in every division in the country would be provided 10 spare transformers for emergency use by the end of June this year, feeders would be upgraded and load-shedding problem would be overcome with the passage of time.
He said removal of the mess in the Wapda was not possible within days or months but gradually the billing system, construction of small dams, electrification of more villages, replacement of old wires and transformers, training of staff and establishment of 24 hour complaint cells in every city would be in place.
Others who spoke on the occasion were: ANP MPAs Syed Qalb-i-Hassan and Attiq ur Rehman, PP(S) district president Mahmood-ul-Islam advocate, Kohat District Nazim Engineer Malik Asad, former provincial minister and district nazim Nowshera Pervaiz Khattak.