PESHAWAR, Oct 8: Former senator and chairman of the policy and planning committee of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Qazi Mohammad Anwar, has quit politics after resigning from the party’s membership in protest against the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

Addressing a press conference, Mr Anwar, a noted lawyer, said he was hurt by the way former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had manoeuvred promulgation of the presidential ordinance indicating that she had no trust in the Constitution and the judiciary.

“My conscience does not allow me to remain part of elements supporting the system based on loot and plunder,” he said.

He contended that the PPP chairperson had put pressure for issuance of the ‘illegal’ ordinance to avoid facing the courts. Qazi Anwar said he would concentrate on social welfare and support supremacy of the law and the Constitution. He said former interior minister Naseerullah Babar had also quit the party on the same grounds.—APP