LAHORE, Aug 1: All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) leaders said on Wednesday Gen Pervez Musharraf was not acceptable with or without uniform because his internal and foreign policies had endangered the unity of the country.

“We have formed the APDM for the removal of the military ruler and preventing the intervention of armed forces in the administration of the country,” Awami National Party (ANP) secretary-general Ehsan Wyne told a news conference.

The ANP leader said measures taken by the regime, including the army operation in Balochistan, NWFP and tribal areas, were driving the country to the brink of disintegration and the APDM was committed to saving the country from a future disaster.

Mr Wyne said that his party had joined the alliance because the London multi-party conference had showed an unwavering commitment to democracy, the restoration of the constitution and other state institutions and also a resolve to prevent the intervention of armed forcers in the national polity for goods.

He said the alliance would begin a mass mobilising campaign for which the coalition had planned public meetings and rallies beginning this month with a rally at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, on August 14.

Lahore Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) amir Hafiz Salman Butt said the district leadership of the APMD was being elected and the only prominent body existing was a 13-member APDM central committee which had the representation of all major parties.

They included Raja Zafarul Haq from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Qazi Husain Ahmad and Maulana Fazlur Rehman from the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), Asfandyar Wali Khan of the ANP, Imran Khan from the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf, and Mahmood Khan Achakzai from the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party.

JI’s spokesperson Ameerul Azeem said 30 of 34 parties which attended the multi-party conference, had joined the APDM. Of them, the MMA, the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and the Pakistan Oppressed Nationalities Movement (PONM) were the three alliances. He said alliances had a representation of three members each in the central committee while the parties which defected the ARD in support of the charter of the APDM had one representative each in the new alliance.

Mr Wyne said the ARD was intact and had joined the APDM as a coalition.