This week (14-21 July 2002), the Pakistani English media mostly focused on the implications of the constitutional packages that were introduced by the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) on 26 June 2002. A number of questions have been raised against its various provisions in the editorial and opinion columns.

     The main worry was what would happen to the Parliament as an institution and parliamentary democracy as an ideology. Dawn, in its editorial (14 July 2002) questioned “Will the parliament to be elected in October be left free to decide on the package in its own lights and according to the rules and procedures prescribed by the Constitution or will it be enforced through a presidential ordinance requiring the parliament to rubber-stamp it?â€Â