The Hindu : Musharraf firm on statute amendments

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 07, 2002

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International

Musharraf firm on statute amendments

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Aug. 6. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, is determined to go ahead with the controversial amendments to the suspended 1973 Constitution. The most important change to be made pertains to institutionalisation of the role of the Army in governance.

Gen. Musharraf today presided over a joint meeting the Federal Cabinet and the National Security Council (NSC) to deliberate on the proposed changes on the basis of feedback from a cross-section of society.

The National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), a think-tank constituted by the military government to outline the required changes, had released a package of amendments in two instalments for public debate. The package makes sweeping changes in the Constitution and makes the office of the President the most powerful Pakistan has seen in its history.

An overwhelming majority of political parties, media and intelligentsia had rejected the package as `unconstitutional' and questioned the competence of the military government to amend the Constitution. The unanimous view was that the matter be best left to the future Parliament.

The argument of those opposed to the proposal for statute changes was that with general elections just a few weeks away, there was no justification for such a move. Gen. Musharraf countered it by saying that the changes were necessary to ensure that the future Parliament did not reverse the `political and economic reforms' initiated by the Government and there should be checks and balances on the Prime Minister to ensure that he/she did not act against `national interest'.

The NRB Chairman apprised the joint meeting about the proposed amendments in the context of views, comments and suggestions received from the intelligentsia, media and political leaders. An official said Gen. Musharraf would soon address the nation regarding the finalisation of the amendments to the Constitution.

On August 1, Gen. Musharraf promulgated a mid-night ordinance incorporating some of the changes proposed in the package. He rejected the proposal to convert the Senate from a permanent to a temporary House, with a tenure of four years, and withdrew the proposed reservation for technocrats in the National Assembly.

In the course of his interactive sessions with politicians and eminent people from other walks of life in recent weeks, Gen. Musharraf had made it known that he was not willing to reconsider the proposals related to the powers of the President to dismiss the Prime Minister and dissolve the National Assembly and also the proposal for constitution of a National Security Council to oversee the functioning of the Government.

The controversial provision in the Constitution related to the powers of the President to dismiss the Prime Minister was done away with during the tenure of the former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif. Gen. Musharraf had argued that such a power was essential not only to keep the Prime Minister in check but also ensure that he/she did not do anything against national interest.

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