KARACHI, May 9: Leaders of various political parties attending an all-parties conference here on Tuesday expressed their determination to launch a joint campaign against General Pervez Musharraf in September.

They also pledged efforts towards getting an independent election commission set up to ensure free, fair and transparent elections in the country.

The APC was organized by the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf and chaired by the PTI chief Imran Khan.

Addressing the conference, Mr Khan said that the PTI and Jamaat-i-Islami had decided to unite all parties at one platform by September to launch the anti-Musharraf movement.

He asked the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) to include the ‘independent judiciary’ and ‘independent election commission’, two important points, in its charter of democracy.

Imran Khan strongly criticized the rulers for launching the army operation in Waziristan and Balochistan.

In his speech, Naib Amir of JI Prof Ghafoor Ahmed claimed that the whole country, particularly Karachi and other parts of Sindh were experiencing anarchy. He urged all political parties to launch a joint struggle for the restoration of democracy and rule of law. He also demanded restoration of the 1973 constitution in its original form.

Mr Mamnoon Hussain of PML-N, who is also a former governor of Sindh, underlined the need for coordinated efforts by all political forces towards the revival of democratic process.

Expressing concern over the plight of common man, he questioned the utility of $12 billion foreign reserves, as claimed by the State Bank to have been accumulated, pointing out that the common man was still unable to have a square meal.

Nafees Siddiqi of the Pakistan People’s Party urged all political parties to get united for the restoration of the unanimously adopted 1973 constitution.

He spoke of the charter of democracy to be signed between two former prime ministers, Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif, and said it would be a milestone. He also condemned the ongoing demolition of old villages in Karachi.A former speaker of the National Assembly, Ilahi Bux Soomro, stressed the need for collective efforts towards the restoration of democracy and attainment of supremacy of constitution. He called for making the judicial system transparent.

JI’s Mairajul Huda Siddiqui warned the government that if slums of poor people did not remain safe, than the lavish palaces of the rulers would also not stay safe.

Allama Hasan Turabi urged political leaders to agree on a principled guideline and strictly follow it to avert emergence of a military dictatorship in future.

Engineer Abdul Rehman of the Sunni Tehrik gave the government May 20 as deadline for the arrest of those involved in the April 11 blast in Nishtar Park. He said a strike would be observed on May 27 if the government failed to meet the deadline.

Abdul Karim Abid of the MMA, Col Abbasi of the Saraiki Movement, Khan Amanullah, Qazi Asad Noorani of the JUP, Salim Zia of the PML-N, Qamar Bhatti of the JSQM and Abdul Sattar Khokhar of the Punjabi-Pakhtoon Ittehad were among the others who spoke at the conference.—PPI