May 25, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1429

RAWALPINDI, May 24: Members of the Ex-Servicemen Society here on Saturday said that President Pervez Musharraf should be tried under Article 6 of the Constitution after being impeached for taking unconstitutional steps.

Thirty members of a working group formed by the organisation met here on Saturday and called for ‘full accountability’ of the president and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz for ruining the national economy.

The meeting was presided over by vice-admiral (retd) Ahmed Tasneem. Other participants included Jamshed Gulzar Kiani, Asad Durrani, Gen (retd) Hamid Gul and Brig (retd) Mehmood.

Gen Gul told Dawn that the organisation had 80,000 members and the working group had urged the coalition government to immediately reinstate the deposed judges.

He said the group had reached the consensus that the president should be tried under Article 6 for taking unconstitutional steps like imposition of emergency on Nov 3, 2007.

He said the group had resolved to support the lawyers’ movement for the restoration and independence of the judiciary.

“We have endorsed the lawyers’ movement in the best national interest,” he said.

He said the society called for setting up an independent election commission because the present one had lost its credibility after it endorsed all unconstitutional actions taken by President Musharraf. “Had there been an independent and credible election commission in October last year, a serving general could not have gotten elected by a parliament twice,” Gen Gul said.

The members of the society, he said, backed the government’s efforts for initiating talks in tribal areas and signing of peace agreements with tribesmen. They insisted that no external pressure should derail the peace process in the tribal area.

The members also demanded immediate release of the detained nuclear scientist, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, and said that whereabouts of all ‘missing persons’ should be made public without delay.