The All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) will launch a countrywide movement for the release of the deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and the lawyer leaders after February 18, APDM leader and Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan announced on Sunday.
He was addressing a meeting of the component APDM parties at Iqbal Park (Dhobi Ghat Ground). The meeting was to be held in the Iqbal Park Ground but it could not because the ground was filled with rainwater and, consequently, the meeting was held on the main road of the Iqbal Park.
Imran said the poor and the common people wanted an independent judiciary, restoration of the true democracy and release of all judges, lawyers and political detainees. He said affluent people and those who had plundered the country’s wealth did not want the reinstatement of the deposed chief justice and other judges. Under the present set-up, he said the rich were becoming richer while the poor poorer.
Imran criticised the government for ignoring Balochistan, saying they were getting Sui Gas worth more than Rs 200 billion from Balochistan but only Rs 13 billion was allocated in the federal budget for the development of Balochistan. He demanded that such an injustice towards Balochistan should end.
The APDM President and Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmed, in his speech, condemned caretaker Information Minister Nisar A. Memon’s statement that in case the opposition continued the movement for the reinstatement of the deposed chief justice, the position of November 3 could be restored.
He said the minister should immediately clarify whether that statement had been issued at the behest of the president or the chief of the Army staff. After President Musharraf’s retirement as the Army chief, Qazi said, he had no power to take extra-constitutional measures.
The MMA chief asked all the political and religious parties to support the APDM’s stand for the boycott of the general election on February 18. Liaquat Baloch, addressing the meeting, said that on February 17 and 18, the people would assemble on the roads and stop those going to cast their votes. He said the people would not allow even the polling officers to conduct the polling.
Another APDM leader, Mehmud Khan Achakzai, in his address, said injustice and insecurity felt by the people created hatred. If injustice was eliminated, he said, it would combine all the four provinces and ensure complete cohesion and integrity. He also demanded the restoration of judiciary to guarantee the fundamental rights of the people.
Meanwhile, talking to journalists present at the Okara Press Club by telephone, Imran Khan said the parties contesting the elections were committing treachery, be it the PPP, PML-N or JUI-F.
He said Maulana Fazlur Rehman and all other polls runners were supporting the agenda of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf. He said the PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain must be tried for supporting a military dictator and extra-judicial murders of people. He said the last public meeting of the election boycott movement would be in Lahore.
He said the polls’ contestants had stabbed the judges in the back. He said Musharraf was holding the fake elections just to provide legal cover to his unconstitutional measures. The only way to get rid of the dictator was to boycott the elections, he said.
Imran said if Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had admitted his faults of opposing the Lal Masjid and the judiciary, he must also seek apology from the nation for supporting the military dictator, extra-judicial murders, shortages of flour, cement, energy, and backing the Shaukat Aziz Mafia.
He said the second detention orders for Aitzaz Ahsan and Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmud had been issued under the ‘law of jungle’. He said Musharraf had made hostage the whole country. He said the APDM would hold public meetings at Hyderabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi and Lahore.