KARACHI: ARD demands caretaker setup to hold elections
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 24: The rally organised by the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, Sindh chapter, demanded reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and urged President General Musharraf to quit office and let a neutral setup hold free and fair elections.
Expressing solidarity with the protesting lawyers, the rally was joined by Awami National Party activists, followed by PML-Nawaz workers.
Earlier, the Pakistan People’s Party and ANP workers converged at the Express Market and shouted slogans “Go Musharraf Go” and “Restore CJP”. A large number of Sunni Tehrik and MQM Haqiqi workers also attended the rally.
The participants were addressed by Raza Rabbani, Qaim Ali Shah, Nisar Khuhro, Nafees Siddiqui,,Rashid Rabbani, Rafiq Engineer, Zain Ansari, Saleem Zia, Sardar Abdul Rahim, Amin Khattak, Shahi Syed, Ghulam Sabir, Basharat Mirza, Amanullah Khan and other leaders who pledged to continue the struggle for reinstatement of the chief justice and restoration of true democracy.
Opposition leader in the Senate Raza Rabbani said the nation had rejected the Musharraf regime and people were asking him to quit his office and let them run the government through their elected representatives. Free and fair elections could not be held without an independent judiciary, he said adding that elections would not be accepted without Benazir and Nawaz Sharif.
Condemning the dictatorial policies of the Musharraf regime, he said after suspending the chief justice illegally, the government moved to throttle media.
Raza Rabbani said the policies of ‘unpopular’ Musharraf regime had been exposed and people were now determined to get rid of it. He said a caretaker setup should be formed with national consensus which should hold elections within 90 days and transfer power to the elected representatives.
PPP leaders Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Nisar Ahmed Khuhuro, Rashid Rabbani, Nafees Siddiqui and Rafiq Engineer also criticised the dictatorial policies of the regime. They said due to its unpopular policies, it had lost the confidence of the people. Independent judiciary and true democracy were interlinked, they said saying that the struggle would continue till reinstatement of chief justice and removal of Musharraf.
They also condemned the restrictions on media and demanding withdrawal of notices issued against Aaj TV and TV Today.
PML-N leaders Zain Ansari, Sardar Abdul Rahim, Saleem Zia and Makhdoom Shah Nawaz also criticised the policies of Musharraf.
They said that due to the ill-advised policies the country’s economy had collapsed. Despite its tall claims of progress, they said the poor were getting poorer while the rulers were spending billions of rupees on their foreign tours. They said the government could not mislead people any more.
The PML-N leaders said the struggle launched by the lawyers for independence of judiciary was a turning point and the regime days were numbered.
ANP leaders Amin Khattak and Shahi Syed said the ANP fully supported the struggle of lawyers. The rally was also addressed by Zubair Khan of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Malik Ahsan of the JUP.
KARACHI, April 24: The rally organised by the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, Sindh chapter, demanded reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and urged President General Musharraf to quit office and let a neutral setup hold free and fair elections.
