RIYADH, 8 August — Prominent Pakistani expatriates criticized the proposed constitutional reforms initiated by President Pervez Musharraf, saying that the "anti-democratic" amendments will alter the country’s 29-year-old constitution and help Musharraf to control power.
They were speaking at a forum organized by the local Pakistani expatriates and chaired by Ambassador Asad Durrani here.
All three keynote speakers, including a carefully-chosen audience, criticized Musharraf’s attempts to make massive amendments in the constitution.
In response to a common cry from the audience gallery, Ambassador Durrani stood up to defend "strongly" the move to introduce reforms, saying that "we are not constitutional experts to debate and draw conclusions on issues like amendments."
The forum, held at the Marriot Hotel recently, was also attended by senior Pakistani diplomats Nadeem Irshad Kayani, community welfare attaché, Tasawwar Khan, head of the chancery, and Ehsanullah Batth, first secretary.
Shamshad Siddiqui and Furqan Ahmed, who served as moderators, were also the organizers of the event. A large number of prominent community members including Abdul Hameed Abu Farooq, Dr. Shahid Nawaz Malik, Ghazanfar Ali, Asif Saleem and Dr. Riad Khwaja were also present.
In their speeches, Shamshad Siddiqui and Furqan Ahmed welcomed the ambassador, who agreed to attend an unofficial event to debate the issue of constitutional amendments. "No other Asian diplomat can probably venture to attend such a controversial public meeting", whispered one among the audience. Hameed Abu Farooq and Dr. Shahid Malik also questioned the proposed move to amend the constitution.
Answering questions, the ambassador strongly defended the proposed amendments, which sparked an outrage from the audience. The panel of speakers blasted Musharraf’s move to change the basic character of the constitution.
The move to make the military stronger was one of the most heavily criticized aspects of the package of reforms.
The panel said this was a "mutilation" of the 1973 constitution. Rehan Azhar and Tariq Javed accused Musharraf of playing with the basic rights of the people.
They said the proposal to bar non-graduates from being members of parliament would affect 98 percent of the population.
