May 10, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, May 9: The recent statement of US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage that the US was not mediating between Pakistan and India, and that the issues should be resolved bilaterally, has once again exposed the failure of foreign policy pursued by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The US official has openly refused to accept the Kashmir dispute as core issue between the two neighbours, said Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan. He was speaking to newsmen after an emergency meeting of the ARD held at the PML House here on Friday.

Flanked by People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) President Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Pakistan Muslim League-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and Acting President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, he said these remarks of the US official were in line with previous statements of US envoys in Islamabad and New Delhi, who had been exerting pressure on Islamabad to yield to the Indian position on Kashmir.

Gen Musharraf’s admission that no one would help us in times of need showed that Pakistan had been left isolated by the world community, the Nawabzada added.

He said the ARD welcomed efforts for normalization of relations between Pakistan and India, but matters to be discussed at all levels with Delhi must be presented to parliament for a debate. Any move to bypass parliament in this regard would be strongly opposed, he said.

National unity, he said, was need of the hour, but alleged that the government was not willing to remove hurdles in this regard.

The Nawabzada said the nation needed leaders who could inspire them. Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto are the leaders who have massive following in the country, therefore, he demanded, they should be brought back to the country to forge unity at national level.

He praised the lawyers’ community for raising voice against the Legal Framework Order and said the ARD would initiate talks with the lawyers’ bodies to launch a joint struggle against the controversial law.

The Nawabzada said: “The ARD wanted sovereignty of parliament, and though the present assembly is a result of massive pre-poll and post-poll rigging, we are struggling for the supremacy of parliament.” The Jamali government should acknowledge this fact, he added.

He said the ARD wanted a powerful prime minister.

Nasrullah Khan said the government-opposition committee would likely to finalize recommendations by the set deadline of May 15. Therefore, the next ARD meeting would be held on May 17, in Islamabad, he said.

He lauded representatives of the opposition in the ongoing talks with government on the LFO for effectively highlighting the ARD’s viewpoint.

CONDEMNATION: The ARD chief also condemned the “ongoing police action against Mohajir Qaumi Movement’s men in Karachi”.

Police had arrested over 1,100 activists and workers of the party on the directives of Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad, he claimed.

He announced ARD’s support for the MQM candidate in the forthcoming by-polls in Karachi.

The veteran leader also condemned the government for its actions against the tenants of Okara military farms.

The ARD chief demanded that the National Accountability Bureau be disbanded.

Earlier, the ARD meeting through a resolution expressed concern over “breakdown of law and order in the country”.

Quoting the incident of robbery in Tezgam Express and killing of 15 to 20 people in Balochistan in an armed clash, it said: “This situation is the direct result of removing the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies from their constitutional functions, and reserving them for personal security of the rulers and surveillance of their opponents.”

Replying to a question on the appointment of an opposition leader, the Nawabzada said it was not their priority. “If parliament is only a show-piece, then what is the role of opposition leader or even leader of the house,” he said.

PML-N’s Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and PPP Senator Latif Khoso had briefed the ARD meeting on the status of talks on the LFO.

Those who attended the meeting include: Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Munir Ahmed Khan and Malik Hakim of the PPP, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Saranjam Khan and Siddiqul Farooq of the PML-N, and Aamir Khan and Athar Usmani of the MQM.