PPP backs withdrawal of protocol from Musharraf

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower & Overseas Pakistanis Syed Khurshid Shah has said that the PPP-led government supported the withdrawal of protocol from former military ruler Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf by the British government.

Speaking in the Express News programme “Kal Tak”, Shah said that Musharraf would be tried as he was responsible for providing security to slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto which he failed to provide. Replying to a question by the programme host Javed Chaudhry he said, “We do not want to take any haphazard action. After the UN report – even before that – we have already said that Musharraf is involved, but if we would have taken any action earlier, it could have invited objections.”

“Why won’t we catch Musharraf?’ Shah asked, adding “We have started our work. Officers involved are pointing out who and which officer asked him to do so. We are getting the leads.” In the same programme, Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz leader Khawaja Asif Ahmed said that he believed the parliament was supreme because it was the creator of the constitution, but it could not alter the basic structure and spirit of the constitution.

There were historical decisions in the US and India when the judiciary pronounced that the parliament cannot change the basic structure. Lawyer Qazi Anwer said no one arm was supreme. “It is the constitution that has the supremacy,” he said, adding “The Supreme Court has to tell if certain parts of the 18thamendment are against the constitution or not. He said there was no issue of clash between the judiciary and the parliament.”