Daily Times

LAHORE/Karachi: Rejection deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s proposal to amend articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Monday announced that they would not help the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) pass any such amendment.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq said that the constitution of Pakistan was the best guarantee for national unity and harmony but a disqualified person was talking of amending it.

He was speaking at the flag hoisting ceremony on Independence Day at Mansoora. A number of JI workers attended the ceremony. Siraj said that neither any general nor any political leader was the binding force behind national unity and it was the constitution that was keeping the people and provinces together.

The JI chief said that his party workers would protect the country until the last drop of blood in their veins.

He said that those talking of dropping articles 62 and 63 of the constitution should instead clear their own faces from the dark spot on them.

He also made it clear in his speech that nobody would be allowed to make the constitution a plaything. He listed the main provisions of the constitution, including its Islamic articles.

Siraj also declared that the JI would not rest until Dr Aafia was released. He urged the people to renew their pledge that they would ensure end to corruption and cheating in the country. JI Secretary General Liaqat Baloch also addressed the ceremony.

On the other hand, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that his party would also not join hands with the PML-N for making amendments to the constitution. “Our party will pursue politics of principles and will not side with the PML-N for making amendments to the constitution. We will make Pakistan enlightened and progressive,” he said while talking to the media.

Bilawal said it was not suitable to fuel political tensions in the county at a time when the country was faced with multifaceted challenges. “A thought should be spared for the situation prevalent on the country’s frontiers,” he added.

He said that the PPP had its own principles and “we will pursue politics of principles and struggle for peace in the country”, he observed.

The PPP chairman said that the government was striving to transgress limits following the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif and was now bent upon making amendment to the constitution. “If these people want to introduce any amendment to the constitution, it cannot benefit Nawaz Sharif. What these people want is not possible. The PPP will never side with the PML-N on this matter,” he announced. He said that the country could not afford anarchy. “We cannot do what the PML-N is doing.”

Published in Daily Times, August 15^th 2017.