Sunday, Dec 21, 2003
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By B. Muralidhar Reddy
Managers of the ruling combine have been negotiating a settlement with the alliance of religious parties and about two months ago had succeeded in hammering out a solution. It envisaged resignation of Gen. Musharraf as the Army Chief by the end of 2004 and introduction of a Bill in Parliament seeking ratification of the amendments to the Constitution. Strangely, despite the much-publicised agreement, there was no movement towards introduction of the Bill. The MMA had set December 18 as the deadline for the Government to move Parliament or face agitation on the streets. In keeping with its announcement, the MMA leaders held demonstrations in different parts of the country on Thursday. Indications were that the Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali Government was about to introduce a Bill on the basis of the understanding arrived at with the religious parties. However, it appears that Gen. Musharraf was annoyed over the MMA decision to set a deadline for an agitational course and asked the Government to delay introduction of the Bill. If the Government and the MMA leaders are to be believed, there is consensus among them on a majority of the controversial issues. The only sticking point seems to be the retirement age of judges. On the eve of the general election, Gen. Musharraf through an ordinance had raised the retirement age of judges across the board by three years. Other Opposition parties in the country are keenly monitoring the developments. They have deliberately not joined the ranks of the MMA in their so-called agitational programme in view of the apprehension that the religious parties could jump onto the Government bandwagon any time.There is little doubt that the MMA has ruptured its relations with Gen. Musharraf by taking to the streets at a juncture when negotiations are in progress. However, they seem to bank on Gen. Musharraf's vulnerability from within and without and expect the Government to strike a bargain. Addressing a rally in the Punjab province the MMA's acting chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, ruled out the possibility of giving a vote of confidence to a "President in uniform."He said the alliance had preferred to contact the people instead of helping in "prolonging the rule of a dictator." He pledged that the MMA would continue its struggle against the one-man rule. He said Parliament was the only forum to make amendments to the Constitution and even the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to amend it. "How can the apex court delegate powers to some one that it itself does not possess," he asked. Qazi Hussain Ahmed alleged that Gen Musharraf's alliance with the United States was against the Muslims of the world rather than against terrorism. He claimed that the U.S. wanted to have permanent military bases in Pakistan and warned that the MMA would foil any such effort.
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