LAHORE, Feb 16: The All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) warned on Saturday the ‘government-in-waiting’ that alliance activists would take to the street if the deposed judges of higher courts were not restored.

The APDM is boycotting the Feb 18 vote as a protest against the removal of 60 judges through the Nov 3 emergency imposed by President Pervez Musharraf. It held its first public meeting in the city, and last before the polls, on Saturday to convince people for a boycott of the ‘sham’ election.

Calling for unity in the ranks of charged activists raising slogans against Musharraf and Bush, APDM leaders called for establishment of a new Pakistan where the constitution, parliament and the will of people would be supreme and the army or intelligence agencies would have no role in state affairs. “You’ve to wage a real war on Feb 19, demanding the new government reinstate the judiciary as it was on Nov 2, 2007 and restore the constitution,” they said.

PkMAP President Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Husain Ahmad, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan, BNP chief Abdul Hayee Baloch, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party’s Dr Qadir Magsi, Liaquat Baloch, Manzoor Gilani and Farooq Tariq were prominent among those who spoke on the occasion.

They warned people of the biggest ‘electoral fraud’ being committed by the rulers in the name of election and urged them not to cast vote and also stop others from doing so. They regretted that certain political parties were still contesting the election despite allegations of massive rigging. They predicted these parties would have been left with no option, but to join the APDM in its struggle against Musharraf.

Achakzai said it was ‘high time’ for people to unite for a new Pakistan where the constitution, the parliament and people would reign supreme. He said no section of society should have control of another and people of a province should have priority claim to its resources. “It’s the only way to save integrity of the country,” he said, adding “we want to live in Pakistan like independent and equal citizens.”

He seconded the JI chief who said a class of exploiters in all four federating units was usurping national resources, especially of the smaller provinces, leaving nothing for the common man who was as suppressed in Punjab as in any other province of the country.

Achakzai called the National Security Council a ‘continuous martial law’ in the country at the time when judges, politicians, lawyers and the media were being gagged.

Qazi Husain Ahmad said the APDM would contest any polls after its demands were met. The demands are Musharraf’s resignation, deposed judges reinstatement, PCO judges’ termination, constitution’s restoration to the Oct 12, 1999, position, formation of a government of national consensus and an independent election commission to conduct the election.

The JI chief called on the army chief to abolish the National Security Council and pull out troops from Balochistan, tribal areas and Swat.

PTI chief Imran Khan stressed that reinstatement of the independent judiciary was a prerequisite for checking people’s enslavement. He said a judiciary submissive to the exploitative class had deprived the poor of their due rights.

Referring to the former ruling party, he said plunderers and looters dominated the parliament. “The real war will begin on Feb 19 when we will demand the new government restore the Supreme Court headed by Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and if it did not, the entire nation must take to streets.”

BNP chief Abdul Hayee Baloch said real power had always rested with the establishment, while Balochistan had always been subjected to military operations. He said that thousands of Baloch had been killed or wounded, while hundreds were missing.