ISLAMABAD, Oct 31: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) on Monday demanded that a joint inquiry commission of the government and opposition should probe what it called “the failure of the military high command” in the aftermath of the Oct 8 earthquake.

The opposition believes that the nation has suffered huge losses due to “command failure of the army” after the earthquake, alliance chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim and secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra told reporters after an emergency meeting of the ARD here.

“The purpose of the formation of the inquiry commission will be to find those responsible for the failure of the army high command,” Mr Jhagra said, adding that the ARD believed that lives of hundreds of people could have been saved, had the government and army responded timely.

Mr Fahim said the people of Pakistan had sacrificed a lot for its armed forces and they were expecting that the army would reach the disaster-hit areas to help them. Now, he said, they were asking why the army could not reach there in time. “Why our trained and experienced army was late in starting rescue operation?”

He also said the earthquake had proved that the country needed a full-time army chief. He regretted that the government had appointed military personnel in the institutions set up in the country for disaster relief and rehabilitation and parliament had not been taken into confidence.

“The government has allowed even foreign troops to enter the country without discussing the issue in parliament,” the ARD chairman said. He said if help could be sought from India, Israel and Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) forces, why the rulers were afraid of talking to former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. “Gen Musharraf should invite Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif without any delay,” he said, adding: “We can give you the guarantee that they (Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif) won’t be coming here to dethrone you (Gen Musharraf),” he said.

Mr Fahim said that soon after the earthquake, the opposition had extended its cooperation to the government and decided not to issue any statement against the government. However, he regretted, the government had not responded positively.

He said whatever the government had done so far, it had done it single-handedly.

Mr Fahim, who is also the president of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, criticized Gen Pervez Musharraf for convening the meeting of the controversial National Security Council (NSC) during this emergency. “What was the need of holding NSC meeting when the whole nation had rejected it (NSC)?”

The ARD chairman said ruling PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had contacted him and told him that Gen Musharraf was willing to convene an all parties conference (APC). “We are not rejecting the invitation,” he said, adding: “But we have some basic demands which you (the government) will have to consider.”