Emergency put off not abandoned: PML Chief

Islamabad, Aug 11: Pakistan Muslim League Chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has said that the decision to impose emergency had been put off, not abandoned.

Dawn reported him as saying that if emergency was imposed at a later stage it would be well within the constitutional domain and he would support it.

The PML chief, a known political wheeler from Punjab province, said he was among some of the well-wishers of the government who had suggested the imposition of partial emergency to confront the challenges of terrorism and extremism which the country was facing.

Rumours were rife in Islamabad on Thursday about imposition of emergency in the country but a telephone call from the US secretary of state,Condoleezza Rice,had changed the situation all together and forced President Pervez Musharraf to put off the plan.

Informed sources told UNI that some of the President's close aides including Shujaat Hussain had come up with the emergency proposal apparently to prevent the return of former exiled Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan and to ensure the postponement of parliamentary election for at least one year.

Bhutto has already announced her return to the country despite failure of her talks with Musharraf in Abu Dhabi last month over a power-sharing deal, while Sharif, who lives in exile in Saudi Arabia and London has moved the Supreme Court seeking a verdict in his favour that will allow his return to Pakistan.

"The abortive attempt on the life of Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao in Charsadda in April, killing and abductions of Chinese nationals in different parts of the country,besides the overall political turmoil were sufficient grounds for taking the extreme step," Shujaat hussain said yesterday.

He added that had his advice been approved, incidents such as Lal Masjid and suicide bombings would not have taken place.

The PML chief claimed the president had turned down the advice, saying that such a step would benefit Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif.

UNI