September 10, 2006	Sunday	Sha'aban 16, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 9: Information Secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Ahsan Iqbal has expressed his concern over foreign media reports that Gen Pervez Musharraf spent most of his time in giving clarifications on various issues before Afghan President Hamid Karzai during his visit to Afghanistan and termed it a proof of the country’s failed foreign policy.

In a statement here on Saturday, the PML-N leader said it was a matter of shame that besides the United States, now Pakistan was also answerable to Afghanistan.

Mr Iqbal said Gen Musharraf had even crossed all limits when he took various measures to appease India. He said the government seemed to make Pakistan an “Asian Cat” instead of Asian Tiger.

He said it was a fact that no one in the world gave importance to a government which had no backing of the nation. He said Gen Musharraf’s policies based on fear and flattery had damaged and crushed the image of Pakistan, that had been built by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif after conducting the nuclear test.

Besides foreign policy matters, he said, the government had failed at all fronts even in its policies within the country. He said a sense of deprivation among the people of Balochistan had deepened after the killing of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Nawab Akbar Bugti in a military operation in Kohlu on August 26.

He said the anti-federation policies of the rulers had put the national security and integrity at stake. He regretted that Gen Musharraf wanted to resolve every issue with the use of force and he did not know that bullets were only for enemies and not for compatriots.

Mr Iqbal termed Gen Musharraf the worst of all the past military dictators. He said the opposition’s public meeting in Lahore on Sunday would be a setback for the rulers. The public meeting, he said, would prove that the people of Punjab were with the people of Balochistan.

Mr Iqbal said the PML-N was ready to quit the assemblies immediately. However, he said, the party was trying for collective resignations from all opposition parties.

He said the way the government was willing to pass the bill to amend Hudood laws before the visit of Gen Musharraf to the US showed that the basic agenda of the government was only to please Washington.