LAHORE, Sept 19: Attorney-General Latif Khosa said on Friday threat to the territorial integrity of Pakistan in the tribal areas was one of the several challenges the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government was faced with.

He said this at an Iftar reception by Lahore Pakistan Lawyers’ Forum (PLF) President Mian Jehangir, hosted for him and Governor Salmaan Taseer at a local hotel. Senator M Zafar, the PPP-backed candidate for Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president, was also present.

Mr Khosa criticised Gen Pervez Musharraf (retired), for what he called, indiscriminate killing of the Baloch people. He said insurgency in Wana, Waziristan, Swat and the NWFP also posed a considerable risk to the country.

He said when President Asif Ali Zardari said ‘long live Pakistan’ he meant that ills such as price hike, unemployment and inflation be removed from the country. He asked lawyers to back Senator Zafar for the presidential elections of the SCBA.

Making a reference to Ali Ahmad Kurd, whose candidature for the presidential slot was announced by Aitzaz Ahsan, Khosa said: “Would you go for a professional lawyer or a person who seldom goes to courtrooms and is a master of exploitative politics?” Mr Taseer said his political rivals were so uncomfortable with him that they did not see anything beyond the governor.

“They started wailing and crying the day I took oath. I have even given them a handkerchief to wipe their tears,” the governor added.

He said he had been jailed several times because he believed in treading the path of democracy. He added the PPP’s success could be gauged by the fact that the president, the prime minister and the Punjab governor were all from the PPP.

Mr Jehangir said President Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP would root out the remnants of dictatorship from the country.

He said the governor had made a lot of sacrifices for democracy and would succeed in ensuring the rule of law, supremacy of the constitution and independence of judiciary. He praised the PLF for its role in removing dictatorship from the country.