‘New social contract’ is anti-constitutional proposal: Durrani

ISLAMABAD: Terming the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s proposed dialogue among the judges, generals and politicians to form a ‘new social contract’ open sedition and treachery, former federal minister Muhammad Ali Durrani Saturday said there was not even a single example of such nature available in any parliamentary democracy across the world.

“This simply means the change of Constitution of 1973. The house of Sharifs shelved the Constitution of 1973 and disgraced the doctrine of ‘sanctity of vote’ themselves by offering an anti-constitutional proposal," he said in a statement.

“In public, they vehemently advocate and even claim to wage a war for protection of this right. Now they have altogether abandoned this philosophy of upholding the division of powers defined among institutions and are suggesting something completely alien instead," he said, adding that this was based on their complete ignorance of the Constitution.

He said at a time when elected governments were completing their constitutional tenures, bringing stability to the democratic system, Sharifs once again through their ill-advised proposition were attempting to disrupt this flow of transfer of much-desired public mandate. He said the Constitution had clearly demarcated duties and functions among the state institutions.

Durrani advised Shahbaz Sharif against involving judges and generals into the politics.

Responding to Shahbaz Sharif’s statement of making a ‘New Pakistan,’ he said 500 billion dollars looted from Pakistan and stashed in safe havens abroad must be brought back to fulfill this dream.