ARD for NAB dissolution

* Calls for return of Benazir, Nawaz
* Nasrullah calls Musharraf unconstitutional president

Staff Report

LAHORE: A summit of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) passed a resolution to demand the government immediately abolish the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and said “the bureau is working against the law for political victimisation of politicians”.

The summit was held at Tehmina Daultana’s house with ARD chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan in the chair. Pakistan People’s Party-Parliamentarians (PPPP) President Makhdoom Amin Fahim, PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badr, Foreign Liaison Committee chief Munir Ahmad Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Secretary General Saranjam Khan and other ARD leaders attended the meeting.

Talking to reporters after the summit, Nasrullah said the victimisation of democratic leaders was the only purpose of the NAB, therefore it should be abolished. “We have passed another resolution demanding the immediate release of Asif Ali Zardari, spouse of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, and the return of Mian Shahbaz Sharif, former prime minister,” he said.

The summit also passed a resolution against sending Pakistani troops to Iraq, the operations of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Pakistan and Swiss investigating officers’ findings against Benazir and Zardari. “We condemn US troops’ friendly fire on the Pakistan Army on the border with Afghanistan, which claimed the lives of two Pakistani troops,” said the ARD chief.

He said the ARD believed that the Pakistan government influenced Swiss officers in Benazir’s case. He said the ARD would not budge from its stand on the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and would continue working for the restoration of democracy. “The LFO is affecting national unity. Those who raise the Pakistan First slogan are not willing to sacrifice their personal interest for the greater national cause,” Nasrullah said. He said parliament was incomplete because President General Pervez Musharraf was not elected constitutionally. He said Musharraf should immediately resign from his military office and announce dates for presidential elections to complete parliament.

He said it was deplorable that the president refused to address the joint session of parliament as required by the constitution. He said the ARD’s August 14 rally would be the beginning of a mass contact campaign and a show of strength.

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