Word: parliament
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...announcement was expected, but it came with an unanticipated bonus. In a nationally televised session of Parliament, President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, standing before a portrait of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founding father, proclaimed an end last week to 8½ years of martial law. As legislators banged their desks in approval, Zia concluded his speech with the rallying cry "Long live the era of democracy!" Opposition politicians, expecting the move, had already labeled Zia's latest steps toward democracy a "fraud." Perhaps in anticipation of so skeptical a response, the wily soldier-politician sprang a surprise: he ended...
Instead of trumpeting the return of such freedoms, Zia spoke in cautionary terms. "No radical change of the system should be anticipated," he told Parliament. The message: Zia fully intends to retain control over Pakistan's emerging democracy. Perhaps the best demonstration of that intention is a new Political Parties Act, which requires political organizations, banned by Zia in 1979, to be licensed by a government-controlled commission. Even so, some of the liberalization moves are significant. Civil courts have replaced martial law tribunals, and civilians have been named to take over from military governors in three of the country...
...martial law marked the latest step in a drawn-out effort to restore democracy in Pakistan. In December 1984, Zia used the favorable results of a vaguely worded referendum as grounds to declare himself President for a five-year term. Last February he called elections for the suspended Parliament. All candidates were required to run as independents, but according to most observers, the balloting was fair...
...been a mecca for canoeists, campers, fishermen and skiers. But it was not the area's scenic beauty that last week drew Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and key members of his Progressive Conservative Cabinet to the government-owned retreat on the lake's snow-covered shore. Faced with Parliament's return from Christmas recess this week and with a host of problems awaiting action, Mulroney and his advisers had driven the half-hour north from Ottawa for an agonizing reappraisal of where the government was, where it should go and even, as it began its second full year...
Responding to the growing pressure, a committee of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) wants the project halted, and a special government panel is pondering what to do. Meanwhile, several influential Israelis have come to B.Y.U.'s defense. Mayor Kollek stated last week that all faiths "should be free to practice their own religion among their own people here in Jerusalem." Former Foreign Minister Abba Eban declared that the "free exercise of conscience and dissent in a democratic society" is at stake...