KARACHI, May 16: The Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponam) will not participate in the forthcoming elections if held under the supervision of the present government. This was announced by the heads of Ponam component parties who met here on Monday.

They called for the setting up of an interim government, comprising the judges who had not taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).

No judge having taken oath under the PCO will be acceptable to Ponam as the chief election commissioner, they declared.

The meeting of the nationalist alliance was chaired by its chief Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal and attended by Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, Dr Qadir Magsi, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Abdul Majeed Kanju, Hameed Asghar Shaheen and other nationalist leaders.

According to Sardar Mengal, Ponam’s general council will meet in Quetta on June 17 to elect new office-bearers. It will be followed by a public meeting next day when a future course of action will be announced.

In reply to a question, the Ponam chief said: “We have no objection to any democratic agenda… we are ready to cooperate if it (the agenda) guarantees full-fledge autonomy to provinces.”

He went on to say that if contacted, we would demand an effective curb on the role of secret agencies and army in politics.

Sardar Mengal said the Monday meeting of Ponam discussed the political situation in the country, especially the overall situation prevailing in Balochistan and Sindh.

The meeting condemned the army operation in Balochistan and Waziristan. It demanded withdrawal of all military forces, including foreign, from the area.

Mehmood Khan Achakzai said: “We have never welcomed army, and now religious leaders, as well as Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif, also say that army’s role is unwelcome.”

National Party chief Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch said the issue of provincial autonomy figured high in the meeting, which stressed that democracy without provincial autonomy was meaningless.