HYDERABAD, July 8: The president of Alliance for Restora-tion of Democracy (ARD), Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, has demanded the formation of the interim government, comprising all the political parties, at the central and provincial levels ahead of the general elections.

He was delivering his presidential speech at the first convention of the ARD in Sindh, which was organized at the residence of the PML labour wing leader, Afzal Gujjar, here on Monday night.

He has warned the government that the people would not accept the results of the general elections unless they were fair, independent, and transparent.

He asked President Pervez Musharraf not to fiddle with the Constitution.

He claimed that more packages of constitutional amendments were in the offing.

He claimed that the ARD had rejected the package of constitutional amendments on the ground that it was the exclusive domain of an elected parliament to bring about amendments in the Constitution.

Tracing the history of army dictators right from Field Marshal Ayub Khan to the late Gen Zia-ul-Haque, Mr Nawabzadah said that President Pervez Musharraf was also following in their footsteps.

He made it clear as per the provisions of the Constitution no government servant could become president of the country.

He said that clear procedure has been laid down for any individual aspiring to become president.

He said that like the referendum people also rejected package of constitutional amendments and the code of conduct for political parties ahead of the general elections.

He said that while billions of rupees were spent to stage the farce of presidential referendum in the country where all the cities were covered by banners and posters, the political parties had been disallowed from hoisting flags and banners.

He said that it was the constitutional right of political parties to inform the electorate about their manifesto and party programme which could not be taken away from them.

The ARD chief charged that in the presence of the National Security Council an orphanage in the shape of the National Assembly was being contemplated by the military government.

He alleged that the government’s foreign policy was a total failure.

He said that it was evident from the fact that when India amassed troops along the international borders with Pakistan none of the Islamic countries supported Pakistan or condemned India.

He said that President Musharraf was also experimenting with the country like his predecessors did.

Mr Nawabzadah informed that since the country was going through a crucial phase all the political parties had been under the aegis of the ARD to work for the restoration of democracy.

He said that it was the collective thinking of the people that the Constitution should be restored in its original form.

He said that President Musharraf appeared reluctant to declare that he wanted to be the president of the country for his entire life.

He said that a healthy precedent had been set in the country for the first time that major political parties which had ruled the country had buried their hatchets and had realized their mistakes.

He said that leaders of these parties have shown signs of remorse to their constituents not to repeat their mistakes again in future.

He said that such numbers of amendments were not brought about even in the USA, which had a 200-year old democratic history.

He asserted that all the ordinances promulgated by the government so far were Benazir Bhutto- and Nawaz Sharif-specific as these amendments only targeted them just to keep them away from politics.

He argued that it was upto the people to give mandate to any party they liked.

Mr Nawabzada also rejected the government’s initiative not to allow those who had remained prime minister twice regardless of the fact that they had completed their term in office.

He said that even in India and Britain, Jawaharlal Nehru and Margaret Thatcher had remained prime minister thrice.

He severely criticized the government’s policies of increasing prices of diesel oil, electricity and gas, forcing the people to commit suicide.

He said that no government had the right to rule the country when it failed to eliminate unemployment, control lawlessness, and provide protection to the life and property of its citizens.

Mr Nawabzadah said that it was the sacred duty of the army to protect the frontiers of the country.

He observed that it was the need of the hour that President Pervez Musharraf should concentrate on the borders of the country instead of ruling it.

He said that the ARD was mobilizing the people before the elections.

He added that the ARD believed in peace and all its meetings in the country would remain peaceful.

PPP leaders Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Sagheer Qureshi, and PML leaders Imdad Chandio and Zain Ansari also spoke on the occasion.

The acting PPP president, city, Sagheer Qureshi, claimed that Benazir Bhutto would return to the country soon.