PESHAWAR, Dec 12: Political parties will be providing legal cover to all ‘illegal and unconstitutional steps’ of President Pervez Musharraf by participating in the general elections, according to Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s (PkMAP) chief Mahmud Khan Achakzai.

He was addressing a meeting of lawyers organised by the Peshawar High Court Bar Association on Wednesday.

“This election is a fraud with the people of Pakistan. By contesting the elections, the political parties have, in effect, accepted all unconstitutional steps adopted by Gen Mushharaf since Nov 3,” he said.

Mr Achakzai accused President Musharraf of having turned the four federating units into his personal fiefdoms. Independent-minded judges have been sacked and placed under house arrest because they refused to toe his line and acted in accordance with the Constitution and their conscience.

He regretted that Musharraf had inflicted various hardships on Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif and they were forced to remain out of the country and even their children could not return. However, he added, they had forgotten those hardships and decided to act in his favour.

Mr Achakzai said he was not against the existence of Pakistan but he wanted that all the five nations in the country be granted their due rights. Regretting that the province was still without a name, he said: “We want the Pakhtuns from Bolan and Gomal to remain united if they want a suitable name for their province whether it is Afghania, Pakhtunkhwa or Pakhtunistan,” the PMAP’s leader said.

He said that the civil and military bureaucracy and the judiciary often extended support to dictators and the army created hurdles in the way of democratic process.

“The National Security Council is nothing but an institution of four generals who have been imposing their will on the rest of the nation,” Mr Achakzai said, adding that on Nov 3, President Musharraf had imposed a martial law and emergency against his own government, thereby admitting his failure.

Criticising European countries and the US, Mr Achakzai said that they supported democracy in their own countries but in Pakistan they often supported military rulers.

The PHCBA’s president Abdul Lateef Afridi also addressed the meeting.