PESHAWAR, April 9: Provincial president of Awami National Party Bashir Ahmed Bilour has termed the Lal Masjid affair a drama which was enacted by the ruling clique to divert the people’s attention from the Chief Justice case and win sympathies in the western world.

Addressing a news conference here at the local press club on Monday, the ANP leader said that Gen Musharraf had staged the Lal Masjid drama to impress upon the world that fundamentalists were close to capturing power in Islamabad and his remaining in power was crucial.

Gen Musharraf, according to him, also wanted to divert public attention from the case of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on which all political parties, lawyers and civil rights activists were united.

Accusing extremists of distorting the true image of Islam, he said the MMA and the ruling military elite had once again joined hands to exploit the issue for the sake of holding on to power with the help of religious groups.

He said that on the one hand the government was bombing ordinary people’s houses and religious institutions in tribal areas and Balochistan while on the other it appeared to be helpless in the face of a few hundred seminary students who had challenged the government.