ISLAMABAD, 23 June — President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will have the power to choose a non-elected person as prime minister under the new constitutional amendment to be announced next week, news reports said. The news prompted the opposition grouping, Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, to call for protest rallies across the country.
The proposed constitutional package was discussed for the second time in a span of one week at a meeting chaired by President Musharraf. There has been no official word on the deliberations. National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) Chairman Lt. Gen. (retd) Tanvir Naqvi and his team briefed the president on the package. The package would bring about far-reaching amendments to the Constitution and Political Parties Act (PPA), 1962.
Highlights of the package, according to an official quoted by The News yesterday are: the unelected person nominated by the president to be the prime minister will be required to get himself elected within six months.
The amendments will give the powers to the president to either have an elected prime minister or nominate someone from outside the Parliament for the post.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday ARD’s chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said the proposed move would be undemocratic and illegal.
Nasrullah said the leaders of the two main parties, former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, should be allowed back into the country to contest polls which should be held under an interim administration.
He accused the government of using the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to consolidate its hold on power.
