June 05, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1429

LAHORE, June 4: The Lahore ex-Servicemen Society decided to join the long march for reinstatement of the deposed judges and demanded trial of President Pervez Musharraf, during a consultation held at the Lahore Press Club on Wednesday.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Maj-Gen (retd) Shafiq Ahmad, Maj-Gen (retd) Khurshid Ahmad, Lt-Gen (retd) Fasihuddin Bokhari and Brig (retd) Inamul Haq said that 10 former generals and a number of former brigadiers had participated in the consultation arranged on a one-day notice.

They said 15 retired generals, 300 to 400 retired brigadiers and hundreds of retired colonels lived in the provincial metropolis, but they did not take part in active politics. But, President Musharraf made the situation so serious that they had been forced not to remain silent spectators.

They said the ex-servicemen attending the meeting were of the view that President Musharraf should be tried for causing serious damage to Pakistan.

The participants, they said, had expressed surprise that some politicians were claiming to promulgate a law against treason while the person because of whom the formulation of the law was necessiated was occupying the office of the president.

“Not only Musharraf, but the late Ayub Khan, Gen Yahya and Ziaul Haq should have been prosecuted for toppling civilian governments and bringing a bad name to the armed forces.”

The ex-servicemen said that only an executive order was required for restoring the judiciary, but it was being delayed with ulterior motives. They paid rich tribute to lawyers and civil society for waging a long struggle to restore judiciary and announced that they would participate in the long march.

They criticised the Kashmir policy of the government and stressed the need for resolving the issue in accordance with UN resolutions.

They said they were not opposed to friendship with India, but wanted the Kashmir issue resolved so that both countries could live like good neighbours.

They demanded unconditional release of Dr A.Q. Khan and restoration of his status as a national hero.

They said the ex-servicemen were of the view that Mr Musharraf was not competent to promulgate the National Reconciliation Ordinance for withdrawal of cases involving billions of dollars of corruption. The president or the banks were also not authorised to write off loans of billions of rupees of defaulters.

Only the courts of law were competent to decide such cases, they said.