ISLAMABAD, July 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Opposition parties Saturday, July 13, described President Pervez Musharraf's plan to create a National Security Council as a ploy to give the military more power over a civilian government elected in October polls.

"He is openly professing and demanding a political role for the military under the guise of the National Security Council [NSC]," argued Ahsan Iqbal, chief organizer of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), the party of exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif.

In a nation-wide televised speech late Friday, July 12, Musharraf said the NSC would be a constitutionally established body that will have the power to declare states of emergency or sack the prime minister and elected government, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

Musharraf has denied that controversial proposals to change the constitution are aimed at strengthening his grip on power. "I'm not power hungry," he said.

The military would have five seats on the council, with Musharraf at the head, while an opposition leader would take the sixth.

Musharraf, who overthrew Sharif in a bloodless coup in October 1999, had earlier proposed empowering the president to dismiss the government.

The move drew fierce criticism that he was making the presidency too powerful and prompted the apparent climb-down Friday.

In his speech he said that power would be left to the National Security Council.

Iqbal said it was "a very explosive argument which can lead to a serious confrontation between the army and civilian governments."

The NSC will act as a super parliament and there is no justification for such an institution under the constitution, Iqbal said.

"If the military wants to enforce any checks and balances on the Prime Minister and the government, the only viable and democratic argument is to strengthen parliament and parliamentary institutions," he said.

The head of the Jamaat-i-Islami party, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, also dismissed the council as a device for the military to hold on to power.

"Musharraf wants a permanent role of the army through National Security Council, which is in violation of army's own code of ethics," he said.

The Pakistan Peoples Party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto also blasted the general for an attempt to prolong his rule, AFP reported.

"The Friday night address was yet another attempt by the general to hoodwink the domestic and international public opinion, to perpetuate his illegitimate hold on power and to skirt the real issue of holding free and fair elections," the party said in a statement.

"The proposed National Security Council, dominated by the military personnel and vested with constitutional powers to oversee the elected government and democratic institutions, is a recipe for disaster."