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No takers for Musharraf package

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD July 19. A week after the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, began the ``consultative process'' with a cross-section of society for feedback on the Constitution amendment package, it is clear that there are no takers for it.

Virtually every section — political, intellectual and the media — that has interacted with Gen. Musharraf has questioned the package and argued against it.

Even the political parties that either supported or stayed neutral during the controversial Presidential referendum in April have opposed the changes. Some of them questioned the competence of the military government to amend the Constitution and told Gen. Musharraf to leave the job to Parliament.

However, there are no indications that the Musharraf Government is ready to negotiate on the most controversial proposals.

On Thursday, Gen. Musharraf met the representatives of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP). Both the parties had taken a ``neutral'' stand on the April 30 referendum in which Gen. Musharraf was declared elected President for a further period of five years.

``We, at the very outset of the discussions, told the President that no individual could be allowed to amend the Constitution,'' the ANP chief, Asfandyar, told journalists after the meeting. He said that they had questioned the Supreme Court's authority to delegate power to any individual or government to amend the Constitution.

``The Supreme Court has no powers to amend the Constitution, so how can it delegate the work to anyone else,'' he asked.

The MQM leader, Aftab Sheikh, echoed similar sentiments. He said they had said that the Constitution could be amended only by Parliament. Mr. Sheikh said the Government seemed flexible on all the proposed amendments, except those pertaining to the President's powers and the proposed National Security Council (NSC).

Political parties believe that it was the provisions related to NSC that affected the basic structure of the Constitution. The Council, to be headed by the President and with representation to the Chiefs of Joint Staff and three service chiefs, would be a kind of ``super Parliament'' and, if adopted, would institutionalise the role of the Army in governance.

As the political parties, particularly the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), a conglomerate of 15-odd parties opposed the Musharraf regime, threatened to take to the streets against the statute changes, indications are that some of the proposals would be withdrawn.

The Information Minister, Nisan Memon, said the Government would withdraw some of the proposed amendments in the light of suggestions made by politicians, experts and intellectuals.

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