The All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) has warned that if the post-election government fails to restore the judiciary and former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other judges, its activists will take to the streets.
The warning surfaced at a public gathering by movement leaders at Minar-e-Pakistan on Saturday drawing Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Qazi Hussian Ahmed and Imran Khan. They also warned that the movement would stage a new struggle on February 19 and rubbished threats by President Pervez Musharraf, saying they were not afraid of him. "We will come out on the streets to give our lives for the country," they added.
They said free and fair elections were impossible as long as President Musharraf ruled and blamed him for problems, including military operations in the Northern Areas. They demanded the restoration of judges, a consensus caretaker government and an independent election commission.
Movement President and Paktoonkhwa Milli Awani Party head Mahmood Khan Achakzai said in his speech, "Pakistan is a multidimensional country where many languages and cultures coexist, thus it is that the country run on the principal of justice."
He also said the country's resources, which are in abundance, should be shared on the principal of justice, which is not the case. "Hatred only comes when injustice is done," he added. He was of the firm view that 160 million people of this country should run the affairs of Pakistan.
He was of the view that National Security Council (NSC) translates in to martial law in the country, which needs to be address. "The Pakistan Resolution ensures treatment of all peoples of Pakistan on the principal of justice and we should follow that," he added.
While addressing the public meeting, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Ameer Qazi Hussian Ahmed said they were not against elections, in fact APDM is a democratic movement that believes in solidarity of Pakistan. However, future of Pakistan only lies in free and fair elections.
He was of the view that it is the responsibility of the government to meet the needs of its citizens and the Constitution binds the government to serve the people, and this is only possible in democratic state.
Qazi also asked the army end military operations and pull its forces from Waziristan, Swat, Balochistan and tribal areas, where innocent Pakistani were being killed, and stop fighting the American's war. He was of the firm view that only free, fair and transparent elections is the answer to our prevailing problems, and it was not possible while Pervez Musharraf is in the seat of President. "Hence, he should leave presidency," he added.
He said if these demands were met then the APDM would take part in the general elections. "However, without these demands the elections would be a fraud," he added.
Qazi vowed that the APDM would continue to struggle for the unity of federation, people's rights, equality, and justice and Islamic revolution. Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan said Pakistan was created to be an independent state, but this was not the case, as in reality over the years dictators enslaved the people of Pakistan.
He also said throughout the history of Pakistan, we have seen sham democracy and for a true democracy free judiciary is prerequisite. He held the judiciary in the past responsible for sham democracy that toed the line of the establishment.
He said Pakistan was supposed to be a welfare state where free and equal education system should have been given, but in reality children of poor and rich are divided in to Urdu and English medium schools.
Imran also outburst against MQM chief Altaf Hussain and called him a terrorist. He held him responsible for the killing of its workers on May 12, 2007. He said President Pervez Musharraf was supporting a killer. "Musharraf and his stooge Altaf are not acceptable to us and nor we want to be the stooge of the US," he added.
While terming the February 18 elections as fraud, he said political parties (referring to PPP and PML-N) taking part in the elections was, in fact, supporting Musharraf and they have no justification in complaining about rigging. He claimed that it obvious rigging would take place and former Attorney General Justice Malik Muhammad Qaiyum on record has said that rigging would take place.
Imran asked the APDM supporters to prepare themselves to wage a struggle for true democracy and to make Pakistan an egalitarian and prosper society. Dr Abdul Haye Baloch of National Party of Balochistan lambasted the government for carrying out military operation in Balochistan. He said many innocent people were being killed there. He highlighted the army atrocities on the Balochi people and added that they were being suppressed.
Javed Iqbal PTI, Ahsan Rasheed of PTI, Hafiz Suleman Butt of JI, Liaqat Baloch of JI, Habib Jalib of Balochistan National Party, Almushraqi of Khakssar Tahreek, Syed Mazoor Gillani of Tahreek-e-Istiqlal and Dr Abdul Qadir Magsi also addressed the public gathering.