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| 12 April 2004 | Monday | 21 Safar 1425 |
ANP blames MMA for 'imposition' of NSC
ISLAMABAD April 11: The Awami National Party has criticised the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal for resorting to what it termed politics of convenience, accusing it of indemnifying Gen Pervez Musharraf's actions by passing the 17th Amendment
, which ultimately led to the imposition of the National Security Council.
ANP's information secretary Zahid Khan told journalists at a news conference here at a local hotel on Sunday that the MMA was afforded what he called last opportunity to prove its worth as a political entity but the alliance had failed to fare well and had lost support even in NWFP.
About his party's joining of ARD, he said his party had constituted a committee for working out details with the alliance but no progress had been made on that account so far.
He said the ANP did not recognize Gen Pervez Musharraf as being the country's legitimate president as he was not elected in accordance with the provisions of the 1973 constitution.
The ANP, he said, favoured allowing all top leaders to return to the country, adding it would extend support if PML-N's president Shahbaz Sharif returned from abroad in the light of the Supreme Court judgment.
He said the ANP was convinced from the beginning that the MMA was involved in supporting Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, whom it had abandoned after their downfall was imminent.
He said the alliance, which was voted to power by the people in the name of Islam, had forgotten its real goal of Islamisation. The proof of its ignoring Islam could be gleaned from the fact that it never mentioned its name in its year-long talks with the central government and ultimately giving in to the military junta by passing the 17th Amendment.
Criticising MMA's secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman's allegations suggesting the ANP's support to martial laws, he said it was the Maulana who had made compromises for the release of his two associates from NAB custody in Balochistan and one in the NWFP.
He reminded the journalists that Maulana Samiul Haq, leader of one of the MMA's component parties, had levelled serious allegations against the two top MMA leaders, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rahman for using the alliance's name for their personal gains.
Mr Khan accused these leaders of securing huge financial benefits for supporting the government on issues, including the Legal Framework Order and the passing of the 17th Amendment.
He said the ANP was against military interventions in the national politics, adding it had opposed Gen Musharraf's referendum and was opposed to the very idea of setting up of the NSC, which he qualified as being nothing more than a mean for perpetuating military's interference in the civilian set up.
He, however, did not give a satisfactory answer when journalists reminded him the ANP chief, Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan from the Senate session in which the NSC bill had been moved and a debate was due on it. He said the party chief's visit to Balochistan was pre-arranged and the party would be represented during the session by Senator Ilyas Bilour.
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