LAHORE, 7 September 2003 — Pakistan’s ruling party and a powerful religious opposition collaborated yesterday on a proposal to end a constitutional crisis over Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s double roles as president and military chief.
The joint proposal between the six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and the government led by Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali was criticized by a senior government official, however, for its omission of a timeframe for Musharraf to shed his uniform.
“The president has repeatedly stated that only he will take a decision whether and when to quit the post of army chief, and the government fully supports his position,” the official said, speaking privately.
Pakistan returned to civilian rule with elections late last year but a bitter row over constitutional amendments unilaterally introduced by Musharraf before the polls has kept the Parliament in limbo, unable to pass any legislation but the national budget.
Musharraf granted himself constitutional authority to be both president and chief of the army and gave the armed forces an unprecedented formal role in governance under a civilian-military National Security Council. Under the amendments, the president also has the authority to dissolve Parliament.
The opposition, which combined holds nearly 150 seats in the 342-member national assembly, has been pushing for the amendments to be withdrawn and has asked the government to bring them before Parliament for debate and approval.
The religious MMA alliance has proposed that Musharraf be given a year to quit his uniform but the opposition Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif respectively have voiced strong opposition to that idea.
Militants Call Musharraf Plot
Charges as ‘Bogus’
Four of the five accused in an alleged plot to kill Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Karachi last year told a court yesterday the charges against them were fabricated by the police, their lawyers said.
Mohammad Imran Bhai, Hanif Ayub, Arslan Sharaib Farooqui and Wasim Akhtar recorded their statements and replied to the questions from a judge through their lawyers.
