The ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) partially made public a package of proposed constitutional amendments to take away all powers from President Pervez Musharraf and transfer them to Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday. “It is better if Musharraf walks away from the presidency rather than being impeached by the parliament. My party never considered him as a constitutional president,” PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari said answering a question at a news conference that was held to unveil the package. He spoke to the reporters after presiding over a meeting of the PPP central executive committee that pondered over the constitutional package for five hours. The package proposes to divest Musharraf of the discretionary powers to dissolve the National Assembly, to dismiss the government and to appoint the chiefs of the armed forces, attorney general of Pakistan, the chief election commissioner and provincial governors. Zardari said he would also engage in talks with the presidency on the package. The package further proposed to change the name of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to Pukhtoonkhwa as demanded by the Awami National Party. The part of the package relating to the question of the deposed judges was not disclosed at the news conference. However, a participant told Saudi Gazette that it proposed to cut the tenure of the Supreme Court chief justice with a view to get rid of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhary after his restoration. The package also proposed to enhance by three years the retirement age of the Supreme Court justices to 68 years and that of the high court judges to 65 with the objective of accommodating the incumbent chief justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar. Zardari said he would consult all the political parties to evolve a consensus on the package of constitutional amendments. He gave no timeframe. He said he would also meet leaders of the lawyers' bodies to take them on board on the question of the restoration of the deposed judges. The PPP chief said that powers were being transferred to the parliament, which represented the people of Pakistan. The package proposed to scrap the constitutional clause, which provides punishment and disqualification to contest a public office for criticizing the judiciary and the armed forces. It further proposed that those who collaborate and help in subversion of the Constitution would be punished. It seeks restriction on becoming president of Pakistan more than two times and banning government servants to contest the parliamentary or presidential elections. The package proposed to add five more seats to the Senate in order to give representation to the minorities. __
