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| India-Pakistan |
| Popular uprising only way to save Pakistan: Achakzai |
| 2007-12-15 |
| Mahmood Khan Achakzai, the new convener of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) and chief of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), said on Friday that a “popular uprising” was the only way left to “save Pakistan”. “We should prepare ourselves to wage a civil disobedience movement if we want to save Pakistan,” said Achakzai at a Peshawar Press Club programme. Achakzai, who recently replaced the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Raja Zafarul Haq as convener of the APDM, urged people to take to the streets for the restoration of the constitution and the judiciary, supremacy of the parliament, the rule of law and their fundamental rights. The nationalist leader from Balochistan said the PkMAP would not accept the government that would come to power after the January 8 general elections because it would be “unconstitutional, illegal and unlawful”. He said Pakistan was passing through a “fragile and dangerous” period in its history. “The federation is in danger. There is no constitution, no law, no judiciary and generals are making decisions in the National Security Council (NSC),” he said. Achakzai said about 70 percent of judges had refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) and many of them had been sacked. Legitimate elections cannot take place under these circumstances, he said. The Baloch leader said there was no justification for a military operation in Balochistan. “What is their sin? The Baloch want their share in governance,” he said. The Baloch do not want to break up the country but have made it clear they do not want to live like slaves, he added. Achakzai said the army and intelligence agencies should not have any role in politics. A Turkish-style government cannot function in Pakistan. “The army’s role in politics is not acceptable to us,” he said. He said support to an unconstitutional government was “treason to the constitution”. He said political parties that did not boycott the elections would in fact legitimise the ‘unconstitutional’ government. He said the country would not plummet into chaos if President Pervez Musharraf stepped down. There were no Al Qaeda leaders and terrorists in the country before President Musharraf came to power, he added.He said people were fed up with politicians and their way of conducting politics, which would be reflected in low voter turnout. “We want to see Pakistan as a democratic country. It belongs to 160 million people,” said Achakzai. He said an important APDM meeting would be convened on December 18. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Glassing the place would be pretty popular in Barksdale, I'd bet. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-12-15 06:41 |