HYDERABAD, Feb 14: The president of Awami National Party (ANP) Asfandyar Wali Khan has asked the military government not to amend the constitution because only parliament is the supreme authority to propose any amendments.

Speaking at the 14th death anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and later talking to newsmen here on Thursday, he stressed that the army should limited its role to protecting the frontiers.

The ANP chief also criticized the government’s electoral reforms particularly the condition of graduation for the candidates. He said that only one per cent of our population was graduate and the 99 per cent people should not be prevented from contesting elections.

He argued that the country needed political acumen and not degrees.

Mr Wali said that a peaceful and moderate Afghanistan was essential for the economic progress of our country and added that people of Afghanistan should decide their future on their own and any outside interference in the affairs of Afghanistan would not serve any purpose.

He opined that the present situation of Afghanistan was the logical consequence of US-Russia cold war during which the Afghan soil was used in the name of jihad.

He demanded action against TNSM chief Sufi Mohammad who took thousands of people to Afghanistan in the name of jihad. He added that from Malakand division alone 3,500 people were missing and there was no confirmation whether they were dead or alive.

He recalled that his father had predicted the same circumstances to Gulbadin Hikmatyar when the latter was boasting of having exploited USA.

Lashing out at the religious leaders who encouraged the youths to join jihad, he asked why these leaders failed to follow the Sunnah of Prophet (PBUH) who had got his teeth injured in one of the battles.

He said that his party had not indulged in any deal with the government and added in a lighter vein that instead Pervez Musharraf had become a worker of ANP.

The senior vice president of National Awami Party, Alamgeer Yousufzai, announced to quit his party and rejoin ANP on the occasion.

ANP senior vice president Aurangzeb Khan, Sindh president Qamoos Gul Khattak, and senior vice president, Haji Asmatullah Mehsood also spoke on the occasion.

JUI(F): The general secretary of Jamiat Ulema-i- Islam (F), Sindh, Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro has said that his party would not accept any amendment in the constitution by an individual to perpetuate himself in power and demanded that the 1973 constitution should be restored, adds our Bureau.