HYDERABAD, Nov 12: Members of Sindh Democratic Forum (SDF) have termed General Pervez Musharraf’s press conference of November 11 a “statement of confession” of his total failure in all aspects of governance, economy and war on terror.

In a statement issued here on Sunday evening, Abrar Kazi (convenor), Zulfiqar Halepoto (Secretary), Mohammad Ibrahim Joyo, Dr Nazeer Shaikh, Nazir Memon, M Aslam Baloch and others, said that instead of shifting the onus of responsibility to elsewhere, the General should accept the failure of his policies and immediately resign.

During the press conference, they said, most of the important TV channels were blacked out and his (General’s) speech was missed by millions of Pakistanis. This fact alone must have earned ridicule the world over of his claim that he is a champion of the freedom of press.

The SDF leaders said that once again he has blamed judicial activism for the growing militancy and the inability of the government to run according to the constitution as the reason of imposing martial law in the country. The laying down of arms by 300 army men and the kidnapping of officers and jawans were not the result of judicial activism, they said.

Creation of Maulana Nek Mohammad and Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi and now Maulana Fazlullah is not because of any judicial decision and the Supreme Court of Pakistan did not order the exchange of 26 Taliban for the release of 200 officers and jawans, they said.

On the contrary, they said, the hangers on of PML-Q like Chaudhries of Gujarat and Aijazul Haq were seen and heard openly siding with the Lal Masjid adventurists. Rather than asking the people and the foreign governments to understand his point of view, it would be far better if General Musharraf understood the ground realities himself, they said.

“In his one-man rule of the last eight years, unemployment has reached 30 per cent of the work force, 74 per cent people have fallen below poverty line, one in every 10 people is hit by deadly hepatitis because drinking water is polluted and cleaning of sewerage is non-existent, justice is costly and crime of heinous nature goes unpunished, food prices alone have registered 800 per cent rise since the take over by the General, and literally nothing gets done despite huge amounts of bribery changing hands”.

They pointed out that national cohesion is at an all time low with insurgency in Balochistan, civil war in FATA, Talibanisation in northern areas, unrest in Sindh and general unhappiness all over the country, especially after the imposition of martial law.

The question mark over the safety of our nuclear technology and apprehension of its proliferation in the international community and neighbouring countries and the cause of concern within and outside the country over the political future and the state of democracy in Pakistan need urgent answers, they said.

They suggested that the only way Pakistan can come out of its present crisis is for General Musharraf to immediately lift the martial law, resign from both of his posts of army chief and president, install a caretaker government of national consensus and hold free and fair elections.

CONFERENCE: Vice Chancellor, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro, Dr Noshad Ahmed Shaikh, has said that it was indeed a happy augury that the ratio of blindness in Pakistan has come down from 2.86 per cent to 0.96 per cent and added that the federal government has allocated an amount of Rs2.7 billion for the prevention of serious eye diseases and purchase of surgical instruments.

He was speaking as chief guest at the 14th three-day ophthalmological conference held here on Sunday under the aegis of Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan, Hyderabad branch.

He said, 25 years back, there were only 80 eye surgeons in the whole country but presently more than 2,000 surgeons were serving in different hospitals. He said short courses will also be conducted during the three-day conference.

The others who spoke at the inaugural session of the conference included Professor Shafi Jatoi, Professor Nazeer Ashraf Leghari, Professor Ghulam Qadir Qazi and Professor Imtiaz.