October 1, 2007	Monday	Ramazan 18, 1428

LAHORE, Sept 30: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) deputy secretary-general Liaquat Baloch has said the All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM) has charted a strategy to foil NWFP opposition’s bid to bring a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Akram Durrani to stall his advice to the governor for the dissolution of the provincial assembly.

Talking to reporters at a ‘black day’ protest demonstration outside the Lahore Press Club on Sunday, Baloch said the ruling party, which formed the opposition in the NWFP legislature, was in an ‘acute disarray’ because it had not been able to win the support of other parliamentary parties in the assembly, including the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), for a no-confidence move against Durrani. He said the refusal of the PPP in particular to lend support to the ruling party in its bid to requisition the provincial legislature or move a no-confidence motion against Durrani had given a boost to the APDM’s movement against Gen Pervez Musharraf’s planned re-election.

The ruling Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), he said, was fully in control of the situation because of its strength, and was not expected to face much difficulty in achieving the target. He said political developments in the province during the last week had placed Durrani’s government in a comfortable position to tender advice to the governor about the termination of the provincial legislature without much hassle on Oct 2, the day on which the APDM had called for a shutter down strike countrywide.

However, Baloch said the APDM had other constitutional and legal options available to ensure that the NWFP Assembly does not remain intact on Oct 6 and Gen Musharraf does not get electoral support from it in his bid to get himself re-elected to the presidency. “We are in contact with our legal advisers on the NWFP assembly issue,” he added.

He said legislators belonging to APDM component parties would dispatch their resignations to speakers on Oct 2 in protest against a public servant seeking another term as president.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) said its organisations held rallies across Punjab on Sunday in protest against police torture on journalists and lawyers in Islamabad on Saturday.

According to a press release, protest demonstrations were held on JI Amir Qazi Husain Ahmad’s call for a black day on Sunday. The JI held demonstrations in Bahawalpur, Multan, Gujranwala, Kasur, Sheikhupura, Hafizabad, Rawalpindi and district and tehsil headquarters.

In Lahore, JI lawmakers Liaquat Baloch and Hafiz Salman Butt led the demonstration, criticising the police action against lawyers and journalists. Baloch said the police action had exposed the ‘fascist face’ of the regime. —Correspondent