- News>
- Asia
Pak oppn asks Musharraf to appoint new Army Chief
Islamabad, July 27: Hardening their stand, Pakistan opposition parties have asked President Pervez Musharraf to appoint a full-time Army Chief and announce a schedule for presidential elections, even as they failed to reach a consensus on attending talks with the ruling coalition.
While the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) -
comprising Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League
- decided to boycott the talks called today by Prime Minister
Zaffarullah Khan Jamali, some parties are likely to attend,
media reports said.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six Islamic
parties, said it would talk with the government only on the
issue of the controversial amendments to the constitution made
by Musharraf, known as Legal Framework Order (LFO).
The All Party Conference (APC) yesterday, attended by 28
opposition parties and representatives of Supreme Court and
high court bar associations, adopted a 19-point Islamabad
declaration calling for the restoration of the 1973
constitution, opposition to the LFO, Musharraf as president
and sending Pakistani troops to Iraq, and commitment to
independent of judiciary and press.
Reports said the statement by the chief of ruling PML-Q,
Chaudhury Shujaat Hussein, that the question of Musharraf's
giving up his army post would not be discussed at today's
meeting, let to the ARD's boycott decision.
Meanwhile, lawyers who attended a convention in Quetta
told the opposition leadership that any compromise on the LFO
or the President's military post in today's meeting would
oppose forces opposing the LFO and benefit Musharraf.
Bureau Report