PESHAWAR, April 30: The Awami National Party (ANP) has said that free and fair elections are the only way to pull the country out of the current crisis.

A press release issued here on Monday said that the party’s central cabinet on Sunday passed several resolutions criticising the government’s internal and external policies.

Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan presided over the meeting.

A resolution said that the failure of the government’s domestic and foreign policies had isolated the country in the region.

The international community felt that Pakistan had become a safe haven for extremist and terrorist elements, it said. Suicide bombings had terrorised the entire world and activities of the so-called Chechen and Uzbek Mujahideen had brought Waziristan and the NWFP to the verge of destruction.

The resolution regretted that innocent people had been killed in suicide attacks, explosion and sectarian clashes. The root cause of the prevailing situation was dictatorship and ill-planned policies of the government.

It said that the only solution to the current situation was to hold elections under an independent election commission.

The party expressed concern over the distribution of pamphlets in Mardan, Swat, Dir, Peshawar and other parts of the province warning parents against sending their daughters to schools.

In some areas barbers have been warned not to trim beards while CDs shopowners are being asked to close their business.

“Gen Musharraf’s government has failed on every front. The government is extorting money from the world’s sole superpower and European countries in the name of development of the tribal areas,” the statement said.

The military establishment had been using various tactics to prolong its stay in power. For the purpose baton-wielding lady force of Jamia Hafsa was paraded through the street of Islamabad for several weeks to make the international community realise that extremists had hijacked the capital.

The party fully supported the lawyer community’s movement and vowed that the ANP would fully participate in the struggle aiming at the reinstatement of the chief justice of Pakistan.

It said that Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhary had exposed corrupt practices of the ruling party and the establishment that was why action had been taken against him.

Another resolution condemned restrictions on the media, price hike and corruption and demanded freedom of press in the country.

The party expressed concern over the state of Pakhtuns in Karachi at the hands of city district government.

The press release alleged that Pakhtuns who played a vital role in the development of Karachi were now being victimised and some elements had occupied their business.

Such activities could lead the country to anarchy, said the party and asked the Sindh government to take measures for the safety of Pakhtuns in Karachi.

The ANP cabinet demanded full provincial autonomy and asked the centre to accept the federating units’ rights over their resources.

It said that the federation could survive if the government gave complete provincial autonomy.