PESHAWAR, March 11: Former interior minister and PPP leader Maj-Gen (retd) Naseerullah Babar has said that the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry will prove to be General Pervez Musharraf’s last battle against his opponents.

This implies that the decline of General Musharraf’s rule has started, said Maj-Gen Babar while addressing a press conference at the press club here on Sunday.

The conference was held to welcome Attaullah Khan, Chairman of the Provincial Co-ordination Committee of Public Safety Commission and renowned lawyer, into the PPP.

Maj-Gen Babar said General Musharraf’s ‘attack on the judiciary’ had made a mockery of the justice system and democracy.

He said after the merger of the Patriots with the ruling League, progressive and liberal political activists had no other option but to join the PPP “which is the only genuine political force in the country.”

Replying to a question, he said it was due to the presence of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) in the multi-party conference (MPC) that Benazir Bhutto had decided to stay away from it.

He said the MMA is a pro-Musharraf alliance which got the 17th Amendment added to the Constitution and bailed the general out of the political crisis prevailing at that time.

He said a PPP delegation would take part in the MCP but only to work for the removal of General Musharraf from power.

The former interior minister said the PPP believed in the might of the people and considered them the fountainhead of political power while the MMA was a product of palace intrigues.

He said the component parties of the MMA had always staged sit-ins against civilian governments but rented out muscles to military dictators.

He said the PPP had not entered into any sort of alliance with any political party.

He criticised the Awami National Party (ANP) “which has abandoned the political path of Baacha Khan.”

He said Baacha Khan was always proud of being called Fakhr-i-Afghan while the ANP’s sitting leadership was not ready to accept the name of Afghania for the NWFP.

Speaking on the occasion, PPP provincial chief Rahimdad Khan said: “PPP is a party having an ideological base and has challenged the exploitative socio-economic order in the country.”

He said the rulers tried everything to crush the party, but failed.

Attaullah Khan said he would adhere to the political programme of the PPP.

Maj-Gen Babar said the inclusion of a prominent lawyer like Mr Khan would strengthen the party.