Islamabad, June 1 : The Speaker of the Pakistan National Assembly Speaker, Dr Fehmida Mirza, has said that Parliament will continue to be in danger till the constitutional package is approved.

"Amendments of the past have converted the parliamentary system into a presidential one, and it is necessary to scrap all such changes for the promotion of democracy," The News quoted Mirza as telling a group of reporters at a lunch she had hosted for them here on Saturday.

She said that the government should abolish whatever had been derailing the democracy in the past, and reiterated that there was a need for the legislature to consolidate itself and then focus on institution building.

Mirza said heads of political parties had the right to take decisions outside parliament because people had mandated them to do so.

The speaker said it was not mandatory to hold discussions on the Kalabagh Dam in the lower house before the project was cancelled, and added that the deprivation of the smaller provinces would also have to be taken care of.

She repeatedly said that Pakistan was an emerging, if not fragile, democracy and people had great hopes from the present parliament. It should be given time, she added. (ANI)