PESHAWAR: ANP demands elections under caretaker setup
By Our Staff Reporter
PESHAWAR, Oct 7: General Parvez Musharraf has failed to implement his seven-point agenda of restoration of democracy, rule of the law, end to disharmony among provinces and normalisation of relations with India and Afghanistan and therefore, he should quit and transfer powers to a caretaker set up.
This was stated by ANP’s provincial chief Bashir Ahmed Bilour while speaking at the Guest’s Hour programme of the Peshawar Press Club here on Saturday.
He said soon after toppling Mian Nawaz Sharif’s government, Gen Pervez Musharraf had promised the nation to empower the federating units politically and financially and restore real democracy in the country. He had also promised to normalise relations with India and Afghanistan.
But, he said, after seven years one could see the fate of his agenda. The nation has witnessed unprecedented surge in street crimes, price-hike and institutionalised corruption while the government was also found involved in Pakistan Steel sale and sugar scarcity scams, he added.
He said smaller provinces had been denied of their constitutional rights. The NWFP had not been paid its share of net hydel profit in accordance with the AGN Kazi formula and Balochistan was being run by aliens as even the provincial police officer and chief secretary of Balochistan were from other provinces, he said, adding that out of 49 federal secretaries none was Baloch. Waziristan had been bleeding due to stubbornness of military rulers, he said and added: “This is the nutshell of achievements of military rulers who seized power from an elected prime minister seven years ago.”
About the Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal, he said his party had declared it as mullah-military alliance, because it had always bailed out Gen Musharraf from crisis.
He said the MMA supported the 7th constitutional amendment and facilitated Gen Musharraf in prolonging his illegal rule. Mr Bilour said the MMA was a part of the military-backed provincial government in Balochistan.
He said if the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam was not ready to quit the Balochistan coalition, then the Jamaat-i-Islami should quit the MMA.
He said his party had proposed formation of a people’s jirga, and not an official jirga, to sort out issue of Waziristan, which had been turned into a nursery of Taliban and Al Qaeda.
He demanded constitution of an independent elections commission to hold free, fair and transparent general elections under the supervision of a caretaker government.
