QUETTA, Oct 4: People's Party Parliamentarians leader MNA Manzoor Ahmed has claimed that the issue of President Gen Pervez Musharraf's military post had been raised at the behest of the rulers to divert people's attention from the problems confronted by them.

Speaking at a press conference at the press club, he said the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy had rejected the 17th Amendment to the constitution because that had given the president powers to dissolve the assemblies, control the district government and nominate the chief of the army staff and the high court judges.

He accused the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leadership of betraying the opposition parties and the people by supporting the amendment. He said the opposition and the MMA agitated in parliament against the Legal Framework Order for a year but the religious parties' alliance agreed to legalize the LFO and the military rule by endorsing the amendment, which weakened the democratic institutions.

The MNA asserted that the issue of the president's army post had been raised to divert the attention of the people from their vital problems, including lawlessness, unemployment, poverty, price-hike, economic degradation and the political and constitutional crisis in the country.

He said the president wanted to retain the post of the COAS for imposing the National Finance Commission award and constructing dams and cantonments in Balochistan through the use of force instead of resolving the federation's matters amicably.

He cautioned the government that unilateral decisions on matters related to The federation and the provinces would be dangerous for the unity of the country.

He said the government must regularize the services of the daily-wage employees of the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation in Balochistan. He said the PPP supported the strike of the PTCL employees and other labour organizations. He demanded that the anti-workers ordinances should be revoked.