10 November 2004	Wednesday	26 Ramazan 1425

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PESHAWAR, Nov 9: The National Democratic Front has stressed the need for restoration of the 1973 Constitution, independence of judiciary and halt to the meddling of armed forces and its secret agencies with the political system in the larger interest of the country.

Speaking at a joint press conference here at the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, the NDF convener Air Marshal (rtd) Asghar Khan, Syed Nusrat Ali Shah, Justice (rtd) Mian Burhanuddin, Justice (rtd) Ali Hussain Qazilbash and others held the armed forces and the judiciary responsible for the present ills of the country. "We are ashamed that we had failed to bring the usurpers in the court of law. Article 6 of the Constitution is clear on punishment to the usurpers, who had repeatedly held the Constitution in abeyance to advance their own interests," said justice Burhanuddin.

He said that the judiciary alone could not play the role of a protagonist in the struggle for the democracy and justice without the utter support of the nation. In future, he observed that the judiciary would honour the aspirations of the nation and halt the unlawful and unconstitutional practices by the dictators.

The NDF convener Asghar Khan elaborated the political programme of the front and hoped that the people would lend their full support for the restoration of the 1973 Constitution, rule of law, independence of judiciary and an end to the tempering with the political system by the armed forces and secret agencies. The other democratic forces, he said, would join hands with the front in its peaceful struggle for the three-point programme, he added.

The armed forces had ruled the country for long 28 years, which paved the way for opportunists and apolitical individuals to join hands with the military generals in their power game, said Mr Khan.

Besides the avaricious generals, he held the inept politicians equally responsible for the present circumstances, wherein a more than 40 per cent of the population was constrained to live below the poverty line. Only real democratic and patriotic forces could push the armed forces back to their professional task, he added.

Mr Khan said that the people had lost their confidence in the politics and politicians, because the politicians 'betrayed' them and joined hands with anti-democratic forces. To steer them out of this situation it had become imperative for the genuine political forces to lead them in the struggle for the common man's rights, he added.

He observed that the Muslim League had always played a 'king's Party' role in the past and paved the way for dictatorship in the country. Gen Ayub Khan and Gen Yahya Khan had forced the people of former East Pakistan to opt for division of Pakistan, he said.