October 01, 2006	Sunday	Ramazan 7, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 30: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has said Amnesty International (AI)’s allegation that the Musharraf government had been handing over Pakistanis to the US against a bounty of $5,000 each is very shameful for the country.

In a statement here on Saturday, Information Secretary of the party, Ahsan Iqbal, said no self-respecting nation could indulge in such a human selling business.

He said Gen Musharraf had already put on the cover of his book, as a great achievement, that he received millions from the American Central Investigation Agency (CIA) in bounty money. “It is most shameful for any sovereign government to make such a claim,” he added.

Mr Iqbal said Gen Musharraf had tried to show that the whole Pakistani nation was extremist and he alone was holding the country from falling into the hands of extremists, which was a big joke. During the last seven years, he said, Gen Musharraf had surrendered national honour and self-respect to earn support of the US and the UK for his unconstitutional rule. Under the umbrella of the war against terror, he said, the Musharraf government had also settled its score by abducting dozens of its political opponents whose families were clueless about their dear ones.

The PML-N leader said President Bush’s statement that his administration fully backed Gen Musharraf had exposed the hollowness of his claim of support for democracy in Pakistan. “Today, the US support and the military are mainly responsible for Gen Musharraf’s stay in power just like Shah of Iran was imposed on Iran by the US through military support.

He said Gen Musharraf would soon realise that the policies which had brought the lowest ever ratings for President Bush would not be able to serve him (Musharraf) in the next elections.

He said the time had come for the democratic parties to take a decisive action for defending the country’s honour, sovereignty and freedom through a joint action. “Those parties which are riding two boats will have to give up one as the nation will not allow them to sabotage the cause of democracy repeatedly. If other parties continued to pursue narrow agendas, then the PML-N will continue its struggle till final victory of the masses,” he said.

The PML-N leader said the recent statements of the chief justice indicated that the Supreme Court was gearing up to take the business of parliament. Therefore, he said, Chaudhry Shujaat and Gen Musharraf were confidently telling their opponents to go to the SC. “The respect and independence of Supreme Court will be restored only when like Bangladesh high court it buried the doctrine of necessity in a deep pit,” he said. He said the SC would earn people’s trust when it would decide matters according to the 1973 Constitution, not the wishes of a military dictator. Unfortunately, he said, Pakistan had been in the present situation because of a “general-judge nexus” that had legitimised the military rulers throughout the country’s history.