May 27, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 10, 1428

PESHAWAR, May 26: The People’s Party Parliamentarians has called upon “genuine” political forces to join hands with the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) in order to launch a decisive struggle against the military regime.

Endorsing the party’s decision about a grand opposition alliance, provincial PPP chief Rahimdad Khan said his party would not join hands with those who had endorsed undemocratic actions of Gen Pervez Musharraf and inserted the 17th Amendment into the Constitution.

“How could the PPP sit with the forces responsible for the present state of affairs in the country?” he remarked.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Mr Khan said the PPP was an independent political party, which had its own stand on various national issues.

He said the PPP was opposed to all forms of dictatorship. He said the ruling coalition had amassed colossal problems for itself, which were not manageable.

He said the lawyers’ movement had given a new direction to the struggle for independence of the judiciary, restoration of democracy and rule of law in the country.

The PPP leader said the government had manipulated the Lal Masjid issue to divert the attention of people from the ongoing struggle of the legal community against the “suspension” of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

On the one hand, he said, students of the seminary had been challenging the writ of the state and on the other, the government was not ready to tolerate the visit of Justice Chaudhry to Karachi. He said Gen Musharraf and his political allies were responsible for the May 12 mayhem in Karachi.

He said PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto would return to the country before the general election and lead the electioneering of the party. He said the PPP would not strike any deal with the rulers, who had sacrificed national interests for personal gains.

He said the government had failed in controlling black marketers and hoarders, who had increased prices of essential goods even before the national budget.

He said lawlessness had increased and the NWFP and federal governments were engaged in blame game.