PESHAWAR, Aug 17: The leaders belonging to provincial chapter of the Qaumi Jamhoori Party have formed another party “in order to promote a true democratic culture in the country.”

Speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday here, Syed Mukhtiar Bacha, the organiser of the newly-launched political party, Humanist Party of Pakistan, said that after the demise of Omar Asghar Khan, the founder of QJP, it had become difficult for them to be part of that party because it had deviated from its course of empowering the neglected class of the society. Therefore, it was decided to launch a new political party to combat the prevalent situation where politics was being done only to capture power and pursue vested interests.

Flanked by other office-bearers of the new party, Mr Bacha said there was a dire need for making concerted efforts on political, social and economic fronts to restore the confidence of the masses. The political, economic and social crises had hit the country hard and the need was to bring about progressive reforms geared towards the well-being of the people.

He also criticised the Mushrraf government for its failure to bring about some tangible changes in the economic conditions of the people, saying that the constitutional amendments seeking a role for the armed forces in the national politics and its alignment with the global coalition had played havoc with the very fabric of the country.

In such a depressing scenario, Mr Bacha said a need was felt to form a workers-based institutionalised political party with democratic culture to empower the workers, peasants, women and religious and racial minorities and the neglected section of the society. The party, he said, would discourage empty slogans and would concentrate on the real issues and problems being faced by the masses.

The new party, he said, would try its level best to find a rational and durable solution to the long-standing Kashmir issue which, he said, had been the main cause of people’s poverty in this part of the world.

Besides, he said, efforts would be made to promote a culture of peace and tranquillity both at the regional and international levels. According to him, the party had planned to formulate such policies that could help transform the country into a modern state and the country could experience the rule of law in which justice was done to all, irrespective of their stature.

Mr Bacha said the newly-formed party also wanted a nuclear- free South Asia. He said a committee had been formed to contact the like-minded people in all the provinces and launch struggle for the attainment of its objectives.