PESHAWAR, Nov 8: The Awami National Party (ANP) has said it will not take part in the elections if they are held under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).

The additional secretary-general of the party, Haji Mohammad Adeel, said participation in such elections would be akin to endorsing ‘martial law’.

In a statement released on Thursday, he said: “The ANP stands for withdrawal of the PCO, restoration of the Constitution and reinstatement of the Supreme Court judges who refused to take oath under the PCO. If the judiciary is not free and independent, the withdrawal of emergency will make no sense.”

He said the state of emergency had been imposed to curtail powers of the judiciary and if the sacked judges were not reinstated, the movement against emergency rule and for the independence of the judiciary would continue.

The ANP leader demanded of the military rulers to end the detention of Supreme Court judges, their immediate reinstatement and release of all lawyers, political activists and journalists detained during the on-going movement.

He said the people would never accept those judges who had taken the oath under the PCO.

In another statement, the ANP condemned the endorsement of the state of emergency by the National Assembly, terming it a “ridiculous act of a dying institution.”

ANP’s Central Information Secretary Zahid Khan claimed that the national and three provincial assemblies had lost their constitutional status after the promulgation of the Provisional Constitution Order on Nov 3, as the PCO was silent over the future role and status of the assemblies.

He said Gen Musharraf had held the Constitution in abeyance and the National Assembly had become a unilateral forum after the en mass resignation of opposition lawmakers.

He said it was unfair to summon a session of the National Assembly and get the imposition of emergency endorsed from a pro-Musharraf and pliant forum.

“Martial laws are imposed against democratic governments and elected parliaments, but Gen Musharraf has spared parliament and instead taken action against an independent Supreme Court. This indicates that the Supreme Court is the only guarantor of people’s rights,” the ANP leader said.

He said the seven Supreme Court judges, now detained and held incommunicado, in a brief verdict had declared the imposition of state of emergency unconstitutional, while a “dying parliament” had endorsed it.

He rejected the government’s version that the Supreme Court had freed terrorists, accusing secret agencies of providing a safe haven to terrorists in Swat and other parts of the province and running their training camps.

The ANP leader also condemned the doubled standards of the UK and the US on politics in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan has expressed condolence over the death of Afghan lawmakers and other innocent civilians, including children, in a suicide bombing in the Baghlan province on Tuesday.

In a condolence message to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, he condemned the ghastly terrorist act, which claimed lives of so many civilians and children.