June 07, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1428

QUETTA, June 6: Awami National Party Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan has said that involvement of the army chief in politics has made the sacred institution of armed forces a target of criticism.Addressing the Balochistan Bar Association on Tuesday, he said the political stability was linked with the return of army to barracks.

The ANP leader said that opposition parties must understand the gravity of situation and join hands to save the country. Otherwise, he said, the country’s fate would be no different from that of the former Soviet Union which had disintegrated because of policies of its leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

He said the USSR collapsed despite the presence of huge stockpile of ballistic missiles and nuclear bombs as these things could not defend a country from disintegration when the people launched a movement against the government.

He said the people were the best defenders of their motherland against all external and internal threats.

The ANP leader accused the president of was ignoring sentiments of the people, adding that it was not a good omen for the nation.

Eulogising the lawyers’ movement, he said they were playing the role of a vanguard in the struggle for the independence of judiciary.

Mr Asfandyar said that no-one could deny the ANP’s role in the democratic struggle, and held out an assurance that his party would continue to support the lawyers’ movement for the independence of the judiciary.

The ANP chief said that it was a tragedy that Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry who, under the Constitution, was a guarantor of justice to all people, was himself seeking justice.

He said all opposition parties must unite on one platform to achieve four basic goals: army and intelligence agencies should abandon politics; interim government should be formed with the consensus of all political parties to hold general elections; a retired judge, who had not taken oath under the PCO, should be nominated the chief election commissioner; and power should be transferred to the majority party in parliament.

The ANP leader said the country was passing through a critical phase in its history because of unwise policies of President Musharraf, adding that opposition parties should forge unity in their ranks for the revival of the constitutional rule.

He said that the conflict between the federation and smaller provinces was because of denial of the right of smaller nationalities on resources of their provinces.