24 January 2004	Saturday	01 Zilhaj 1424

HARIPUR, Jan 23: ANP leader Bashir Ahmed Bilour has accused the MMA of betraying the nation by strengthening the hands of a president "who took power undemocratically."

"The mullah-military alliance and extraordinary cooperation at the cost of democracy is a worrisome situation," he said while speaking to the participants of a ceremony held to observe the death anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan here on Thursday evening.

The office-bearers and workers of Haripur chapter of the ANP participated in the ceremony. Mr Bilour claimed that the MMA and the military much before October 2002 elections were in league with each other and the MMA leaders were clandestinely supporting "a government servant to get him vote of confidence from parliament." He said it was all part of a deal struck by the MMA leadership years back with the government.

He said the MMA's support to the 17th Constitutional Amendment had not only bestowed the president with sweeping powers but also undermined the struggle of late Mufti Mehmood who had strived for the adoption of the 1973 Constitution with a consensus.

Mr Bilour criticized military generals and held them responsible for derailing the democratic setup each time, saying that the country had come into existence because of a long and tough political struggle and the military generals had played no role in it.

He lauded the efforts and political sagacity of late Bacha Khan for peaceful coexistence with neighbouring states. He said that those who had dubbed late Khudai Khidmatgar as a traitor for his struggle seeking peaceful solution to all disputes, had now accepted the philosophy of the late leader and were following the same path.