No support for person-specific amendment: Khursheed

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Wednesday said the party will never support a constitutional amendment to protect a single personality and made it clear that support to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was out of the question.

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah opposed amendments to articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, saying that the government was aiming to rescue Nawaz Sharif through amendments and the PPP will not be part of any person-specific amendment.

“The PPP had proposed to abolish the amendments introduced by the dictatorial rule of Ziaul Haq through the 18th Amendment to the Constitution but the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) did not come on board. But now the PML-N is aiming to abolish these articles to rescue Nawaz Sharif,” he said while talking to media persons at his chamber  in the Parliament House.

The opposition leader said when amendments were made in the Constitution to save some individual, then questions could be raised and it could be challenged in the courts of law. He said that the PML-N opposed amendments to articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution assuming that Asif Ali Zardari will be targeted but now they came under its trap. “I cannot call Nawaz Sharif a ‘hypocrite’ but the intentions are not clear,” he said.

Khursheed Shah said the government was only focusing on how to make amendments to articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution but did not know how a country was threatening 220 million people. “Our Foreign Office has completely failed to handle the situation arising out the threatening statement of the US president,” he said.

The opposition leader said being an opposition leader, he appreciated the statement of China, givinga  befitting response to the US president. “With this act, the friendship between the people of Pakistan and China would be more strengthened and the whole nation of Pakistan is thankful to China,” he said.

To a question, the opposition leader said he will also support the demand of Senator Pervaiz Rashid to make public the News Leaks report. Meanwhile, the PPP senior leadership in a meeting in Islamabad reiterated its decision of not holding negotiations with the government on amending articles 62 and 63.

The meeting was held at the Zardari House which was jointly presided over by former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Syed Khursheed Shah, Opposition Leader in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan, former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Farhatullah Babar, Sardar Latif Khosa, Sherry Rehman, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Sabir Baloch, Taj Haider, Saleem Mandviwala and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar also attended the meeting.

The meeting discussed the current political situation in the country as well as the latest US approach towards regional situation.

The meeting reiterated its earlier declaration that the party will not enter into any negotiations with the government in the present circumstances. The meeting asked the provincial chapters of the party to step up mass contact campaigns. The meeting also reposed full confidence in the leadership of Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.