QUETTA, March 13: Members of the opposition parties attended in large numbers a public meeting on Tuesday which was organised by the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP). A resolution was adopted on the occasion that demanded an immediate withdrawal of the reference filed against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

PMAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai chaired the protest meeting which was held at the Bacha Khan Chowk. Among others who attended the meeting were Dr Hayee Baloch of the Balochistan National Party, Malik Wali Kakar of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, Nazimuddin Kakar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Ibrahim Hazara of the Hazara Democratic Party, Abdul Haq Hashimi of the Jamaat-i-Islami and Sakhi Sultan who represented the community of lawyers.

Mr Achakzai urged the leadership of the ARD, MMA, ANP and other parties to forge unity among them and to mount a joint struggle against the “dictatorship of President Gen Pervez Musharraf”. He said that a united stance of the opposition parties was possible on the chief justice issue if they agreed that the army and the intelligence agencies would have no role in politics.