PESHAWAR, Oct 31: Pakistan Muslim League (N) has demanded of the government to release PML acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi immediately and register a treason case, under the Article 6 of the Constitution against all those who had overthrown the PML- elected government in Oct 1999.
Speaking to newsmen at a protest camp, set up to denounce the arrest of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) president Javed Hashmi, here at the Chowk Yadgar on Friday, the PML-N provincial vice-president Sharafat Ali Mubarik said Mr Hashmi had exposed the rulers’ hypocrisy and misdeeds. He denied that Mr Hashmi had committed any wrongdoings by exposing the real face of military generals.
He said the arrest of Mr Hashmi was a continuation of the military coup staged by chief of army staff Gen Pervez Musharraf four years ago against the elected government of the people. He asked the government to lodge a treason case against the general people, who had rejected Gen Musharraf during a farcical referendum.
Mr Mubarik said such a third-degree tactics applied by the present government against the PML leadership couldn’t discourage the PML workers, braving the vendetta of military rulers. He said Mr Hashmi had hinted a growing hatred among the masses against the military rule in the country, which the rulers dubbed as a propaganda against the military institution.
He said the PML, which created Pakistan, whose leaders could not be termed as traitors, but the generals, who were supposed to be tried under the treason charges for suspending, amending and putting the Constitution in abeyance, were dubbing politicians as traitors. He warned the government to abandon its practice of vengeance, otherwise people would take their own course.
Meanwhile, PML-N Central secretary-general Saranjam Khan has condemned the arrest of chief of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, saying it could be the last resort for the government.
The army will be responsible for any harm done to Javed Hashmi during the custody, he said.
“The violators of the article 6 of the Constitution should be registered under mutiny charges,” said Mr Khan. He lamented that mutiny case was registered against chief of a founder party of the country.