MANSEHRA, May 21: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Monday laid the foundation of a model town, Bakryal, to be built at an estimated cost of Rs13.5 billion where the quake-affected people of Balakot and Garlat will be settled.

Later addressing a big public gathering at the Hazara University ground, 20km from here, President Musharraf has said that fundamentalism and greed for power are main hurdles in the way of prosperity and development of the country.

He said that non-issues were being exploited by vested interests to undermine the prestige and dignity of others.

“The opposition is exploiting the Karachi incident on ethnic grounds and accused me of being behind all this as a Muhajir, but I want to clarify that my caste and everything is Pakistan and I love my country as it is equally important for the Pathans, Muhajirs, Sindhis and others.”

Federal minister Amir Muqam, NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai and district nazim Sardar Mohammad Yousaf were present on the occasion.

President Musharraf said that there was no judicial crisis in the country, but the opposition had hatched a conspiracy and wanted to make the reference against the chief justice a political issue. “The opposition is undermining the supreme institution of judiciary.”

He said that in the coming elections “my supporters (PML) will win”.

On the Lal Masjid issue, he said that every mullah issued decrees to wage his own brand of jihad. “Declaring jihad is the sole responsibility of a Muslim government and no mullah can declare a jihad against any society or government,” he added.

He said the next budget would be pro-people and would address the problems of poverty, unemployment and price-hike.