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| January 7, 2006 | Saturday | Zilhaj 6, 1426 |
Uniform ‘threat’ to democracy, national unity, PML-N
ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafiq, MNA, has said President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s military uniform has become a “serious problem” for democracy, constitution, national unity and for Pakistan Army itself. Speaking at a news conference with party’s vice-president Syed Zafar Ali Shah here on Friday, he regretted that on the one hand the rulers were fighting with Pakhtoon tribes in the NWFP while on the other they were at war with nationalist tribes in Balochistan.
He asked Gen Musharraf to quit if he was sincere to the country. Criticizing the president for raising the Kalabagh dam issue, he said a military dictator could not resolve inter-provincial disputes. Such disputes could only be resolved by elected and popular leadership. He called for fresh elections under an independent election commission in the country.
The MNA said the opposition parties had already announced to hold a protest rally in Lahore to condemn the military operations in Balochistan and Waziristan on January 8. He said similar protest rallies would soon be organized in other major cities of the Punjab. He called for an immediate end to the military operation in Balochistan, saying that Pakistan could not afford another “fall of Dhaka.”
Mr Rafiq criticized President Musharraf’s proposals of self- governance and demilitarization in Kashmir “without discussing the issue in parliament.” Moreover, he said, if self-governance meant setting up of a state on the pattern of the Palestinian Authority then slavery was better than that. He also asked the government to explain the term “demilitarization.” He was of the view that Indian and Pakistani troops did not have a similar status in Kashmir as Pakistan Army was busy in helping the earthquake survivors while the Indian troops were busy in genocide of the Kashmiris.
He asked the government to explain what concessions it had sought for the people of Kashmir after announcing a ceasefire along the Line of Control and “facilitating” the Indian Army at Siachen.
Mr Rafiq said the government was now crying that India had a role in Balochistan insurgency. He said India could have been given a strong response for its role in Balochistan had Pakistan not played down the freedom struggle of the Kashmiris.
He asked APHC leader Mir Waiz not to follow the footsteps of late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat. “Mir Waiz and other visiting Kashmiri leaders should know that they are holding meetings with individuals as Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz were not the true representatives of the people.
He said Mir Waiz would have been welcomed warmly by the people of Pakistan had he come here as a representative of the united APHC.
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