28 June 2004	Monday	09 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

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LAHORE, June 27: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan has alleged that the country is being controlled through 'files', a reference to the alleged use of the NAB for changing loyalties by politicians.

It was the need of the hour that all opposition parties should gather on a platform to play their constructive role in the changing scenario, he told reporters here on Sunday, after attending a meeting for the election campaign of PTI's Omar Cheema in by-polls for PP-156.

The cricketer-turned-politician said the change in the federal set-up depicted that Gen Musharraf would not shed his uniform contrary to his promise made in the 17th Amendment.

"The situation requires that we all (the opposition) should assemble on a single platform, avoiding any split in our ranks unlike the past," the lone PTI representative in the National Assembly said.

Mr Khan, a critic of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, had refused Gen Musharraf's offer to join the PML-Q before the 2002 general elections as long as politicians with the stained past were there in the party's folds.

Asked what would be his strategy viz-a-viz the nomination of Chaudhry Shujaat Husain as prime minister, he said he would consult other opposition parties after returning to Islamabad to formulate a joint strategy on the issue.

Replying to a question, he said he would also support the opposition in fielding a joint candidate against prime minister 'in-waiting' Shaukat Aziz when the latter would contest by-polls from any National Assembly seat.

Asked what in his opinion was the reason for the quittal of Jamali, the PTI chairman said Gen Musharraf thought that the Baloch sardar had failed to provide him a shield against the opposition and the masses.

"Whenever Jamali called Musharraf his boss, all cannons started targeting the army chief," he argued.

He questioned what type of parliamentary democracy it was in which the prime minister was claiming in the morning that he was there to stay and the same day in the evening he resigned from his office.

The episode had crystalized one thing that the top slot would go to him who was controllable, he said.

Such a person, Mr Khan said, either would have cases of grave corruption lying with the NAB or he would not have any political base in the country.He regretted that Chaudhry Shujaat was nominated prime minister though he had got heavy bank loans written off and a case in this regard was pending with the apex court.

He believed that was being done purportedly so that whenever Shujaat would change his 'direction', the cases would be re-opened.

"The country is being controlled through files. All the assemblies are proving as dummy fora. Nothing was processed through these assemblies despite big changes brought in the set-up, first in Sindh and latter in the federal hierarchy."