PESHAWAR, Feb 2: Awami National Party has expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the country and has asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf to resign.

“The time has come that President Musharraf tenders resignation and paves the way for the establishment of true democracy in the country,” said ANP’s acting president Ghulam Ahmad Bilour.

Addressing a ‘peace rally’ at Chowk Yadgaar on Friday, the ANP leader said Pakhtuns were facing bloodshed in Afghanistan as well as in Pakistan. Pakhtuns were being killed for no fault of theirs, as the rulers looked the other way.

Earlier, the ANP rally started from Namak Mandi which ultimately converted into a public meeting at the historic Chowk Yadgaar. Participants of the rally raised slogans against the government and expressed their concern over the recent spate of bombings in the country.

Mr Bilour said the rulers were visiting foreign countries at the behest of the US, ignoring the problems inside Pakistan. Lashing out at the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government in the NWFP, he said it had forgotten its promises.

Provincial general-secretary of the party Mian Iftikhar Hussain alleged that an ill-advised Afghan policy was the mother of all problems facing the country today. He said Afghanistan was first ruined by the USSR and it was now being ruined by the US.ANP’s central vice-president Mohammad Adeel said President Musharraf was the reason behind all the problems. He condemned the provincial government as well as the centre for their “failure to provide protection to the public”.