Musharraf abandons plebiscite demand for Kashmiris: PML-N

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee agreed to attend the 12th Saarc summit when General Pervez Musharraf accepted his all demands, including withdrawal from the Pakistan's stance on Kashmir for granting right of plebiscite in the light of UN Security Council's resolutions, alleged Siddiq-ul-Farooq, information secretary of the PML-N, while addressing a press conference here on Saturday.
He said: "Saarc can play its role in bringing prosperity in the region like the European Union, Commonwealth, ASEAN and ECO etc if India treats smaller states on the basis of equality as no one would accept the Indian hegemony in the region."
He stressed the need for sincere efforts for ending unemployment, promoting multilateral trade to bring prosperity.
He said, "only an elected government, which enjoys the confidence of the masses, could put the country on the track of progress and prosperity."
Siddiq-ul-Farooq said: "All powers went to General Pervez Musharraf through 17th Amendment and he would keep the National Accountability Bureau( NAB) under his own control to blackmail the parliamentarians."
MMA CRITICISED: He said: "The MMA has stabbed in the back of the masses by supporting a military adventurer, who dissolved the elected government and sent into exile an elected prime minister."
Talking about Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed, the PML(N) leader said, "he (Rashid) does not know diplomatic etiquette thus he could not become the minister-in-waiting for the Indian premier because the Indian government has flatly refused to accept Shaikh Rashid as the protocol officer for Vajpaee.
He alleged that American secret agency FBI was sitting in State Bank of Pakistan, in Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI), and in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
"Our airbases are in the control of the Americans," he alleged and added "our scientists are being arrested, investigated and harassed, who had attained the nuclear capability to face India."
The PML(N) secretary said that Habib Bank was sold out at throw-away rates.
Bitterly criticising the policies of the present regime, he said that 15 million people had gone below the poverty line during the Pervez Musharraf's rule, two million people were rendered jobless and the number of suicide incidents had gone up in the country.
While Mian Nawaz Sharif put the country on the path of progress, prosperity, self-sufficiency, he said. "Nawaz Sharif laid a network of highways and motorways, introduced information technology, brought revolution in telecommunication sector and attracted foreign investors, while no foreign investment came during the last four years, he said.
He said: "The PPP would continue its struggle under the banner of ARD against the present regime and its extra-constitutional acts till the achievement of the objective."