PESHAWAR: Awami National Party central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said that ‘confrontation’ between institutions over conviction of retired Gen Pervez Musharraf by the special court is inappropriate.

Addressing a function on the seventh death anniversary of ANP senior leader Bashir Ahmad Bilour here on Sunday, he said that judgment of the court against Gen Musharraf was constitutional. He added that all institutions should accept judgments of the judiciary.

Bashir Bilour, who served as senior minister in ANP-PPP coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was martyred in a suicide attack along with party workers in Peshawar in December 2012.

Bashir’s elder brother Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, ANP senior vice president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, provincial president Aimal Wali Khan and other leaders also addressed the ceremony.

Mian Iftikhar said that Constitution was supreme and nobody was above the law. He said that Musharraf had abrogated the Constitution and termed it only a piece of papers. “Now Musharraf has realised importance of this piece of papers,” he added.

Seventh death anniversary of Bashir Bilour observed

He said that Gen Musharraf deserved punishment because he had violated Article 6 of the Constitution.

He said that two sitting prime ministers had accepted court judgments. He added that Gen Musharraf could approach the Supreme Court if he had objection to the verdict of the special court.

Speaking on the occasion, Ameer Haider Hoti said that ‘selected’ government ruined the country’s economy. He said that government also complicated extension of the tenure of the army chief. He said that common people were unable to pay utility bills because of the wrong policies of the PTI government.

Mr Hoti said that PTI could only be given credit for scandalous Malam Jabba and Bus Rapid Transit projects. He said that Turkey and Malaysia had convened summit of the Islamic countries on Pakistan’s request to discuss Kashmir and other issues, but Prime Minister Imran Khan could not take pressure from Saudi Arabia and did not attend the conference.

He said that ANP would not accept presence of “uniformed men” in and outside polling stations in next elections. He said that free, fair and transparent elections were the only solution to pull the country out of the prevailing crises.

Aimal Wali Khan said that he disagreed with Para 66 in the detailed judgment of the special court which read if Gen Musharraf was found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk and be hanged for three days.

He said that he did not support the narrative, which promoted extremism.

He condemned bomb blast in front of Peshawar High Court and said that ANP had long struggle against terrorism and extremism. He said that the party sacrificed hundreds of leaders and workers during the last one decade.

He said that Afghan government should not allow terrorists to use its territory against other countries. He asked Afghan government to take action against terrorists and eliminate their hideouts.

Ghulam Ahmad Bilour while expressing reservations over paragraph 66 of the special court judgment said that he saluted Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth for the historic judgment.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2019