Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Friday announced to table a bill in the National Assembly asking the president to issue a certificate in January every year that no compromise has been made on the country's sovereignty, security and nuclear programme.
"In the wake of conditions in Kerry-Lugar bill, PML-Q is going to table a bill in the National Assembly to assure that the country is not being influenced by any foreign country," he told journalists while addressing a press conference at PML House.
Commenting on the NRO, Mushahid said NRO was an agreement between slain PPP leader Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and former President Musharraf. Under the deal, he informed, PPP had to support the re-election of Musharraf and in return all the cases against PPP leaders would have been withdrawn.
He said his party had raised concerns on Kerry-Lugar bill, launched campaign against NRO and now was going to introduce a bill to torpedo all the conditions embedded in the Kerry-Lugar bill. He said his party leadership would leave for Gilgit-Baltistan on Saturday for a three-day visit as part of the election campaign for PML-Q candidates.
Brushing aside the rumours of any threat to the democratic system, Mushahid asked the government to learn lessons from its mistakes and take immediate steps to ensuring the supremacy of the Parliament, as the opposition was ready to support its positive initiatives.
"The democratic institutions are functioning properly. Political parties, armed forces, masses and media are unanimous on supporting the democracy. Politicians should mind their business and the army should keep its focus on professional matters.
However, the government may feel threatened due to its wrong doings, corrupt practices and misdeeds," he said. "We are ready to cooperate with any political force as we extended support to the government's committee on Balochistan for its recommendations for the Balochistan people," he remarked.
Mushahid said the government should now speed up its efforts to achieve its lost glory as the withdrawal of NRO, retreat on Kerry-Lugar bill and the loss of its coalition partners' support had badly damaged its image. "The government had lost the moral ground and now it only has the legal argument of being in power. The rulers should not repeat the mistakes of past," he added. He said he had visited India recently to participate in an international moot on terrorism.
"At the conference, I told Indian establishment not to be happy with terrorism incidents in Pakistan. I said terrorism has no religion and rather it is a corridor, which started from Baghdad and reached Pakistan. However, this menace would not stop at Wagah Border. India should not exploit this phenomenon as this could grip India," he argued.
Elaborating the details of the bill, Senator Wasim Sajjad said the bill has been tabled in the Senate while it would also be submitted in the National Assembly. He said this bill aimed at countering the concerns emitting from the conditions enshrined in the Kerry-Lugar bill about the country's nuclear programme, foreign influence in the promotions and transfers of the chain of command of the armed forces.
To a question, he said there was no threat to President Asif Ali Zardari as he was holding the supreme office of the country. "Under Article 248 of the Constitution, no criminal proceedings can be initiated or held against the president. However, once he leaves his office, the same could be initiated," he added.