World | Pakistan
Democratic alliance seeks Musharraf impeachment
A multi-party political alliance that boycotted the February general elections in Pakistan yesterday demanded the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf and the reinstatement of the judges he ousted last year under the emergency rule.
- By Shahid Hussain, Correspondent
- Published: 00:33 May 15, 2008
Islamabad: A multi-party political alliance that boycotted the February general elections in Pakistan yesterday demanded the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf and the reinstatement of the judges he ousted last year under the emergency rule.
The heads of component groups of the All Parties Democratic Alliance (APDM) met here in the wake of cracks in the ruling coalition led by Pakistan Peoples Party after its major partner Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) pulled out its ministers from the federal cabinet over the judges row. "Musharraf should be impeached and the judiciary should be restored to its pre-emergency November 2, 2007 status," the APDM leaders demanded at a news conference here after the meeting.
Majority
The news conference was addressed by Mahmood Khan Achakzai, head of the Pukhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party, Imran Khan, leader of Tehreek Insaaf (movement for justice) and Qazi Hussain Ahmad, chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
They said the PPP and the PML-N had the required two-thirds majority to impeach the president in a joint session of the two Houses of Parliament - the National Assembly and the Senate.
The alliance set up a committee to prepare the ground for a national conference of political parties, intellectuals, media, lawyers and civil society groups to launch a movement for the supremacy of parliament, rule of law and independence of judiciary.
"Until the deposed judges are restored and judicial independence is achieved, the dream of democratic welfare state cannot be realised," Achakzai said.
Qazi Hussain Ahmad said the APDM would consider joining hands with the PML-N of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif if and when the party withdrew from the coalition with the PPP.
"Nawaz Sharif and PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari have no common ground now and the PML-N should make the right decision," he said.
The alliance said it would move a petition in the Supreme Court after the restoration of the judges over the "carnage" that occurred in Karachi on May 12 last year during the visit of then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to the capital of the Sindh province. It blamed Musharraf and Muttahida Qaumi Movement for the violence that claimed more than 50 lives.
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