HARIPUR, Sept 27: An unhindered democratic process with strong institutions is a prerequisite for giving the country a real parliamentary democracy.

This was the crux of the speeches, made by the majority of candidates, delivered at the Awami Forum jointly organized by the Rural Development Programme and South Asia Partnership here on Friday.

The forum was attended by a large number of social workers, journalists, lawyers, and local government representatives and women councilors.

At the forum, most of the speakers avoided touching the core issues among the topics and concentrated on the old-fashioned and typical utterances.

However, the MMA’s candidate for NA-19, Ghulam Nabi Khan, Shamsul Islam Anjum PF-51, Yusaf Ayub Khan of PML (N) PF-50, Sajjad Khan Jadoon, an independent candidate PF-49, PAT’s candidate for special NA seats Ms Gul Ambrin Minhas, tried to speak on some of the specified topics.

Almost all the speakers supported the strengthening of democracy in the country.

Yusuf Ayub Khan criticized the military regime for derailing the democratic process and attributed the present state of economy to the military takeover of 1999.

Ghulam Nabi Khan and Shamsul Islam Anjum said that the solution to all the problems in the country was in the Islamization of society, and asked the people to vote for the MMA candidates.

Syed Waqar Shah, another independent candidate for NA-19 Haripur, expressed his disbelief in the previous system and stressed the need to rid the country of past politicians.

Raja Tahir Ayub, an independent candidate for PF-50 Haripur, also supported the restoration of democracy in the country.

Sajjad Khan Jadoon, also an independent candidate for PF-49, said that putting an end to the feudal system was a must for real democracy.

Gul Ambrin Minhas, a PAT candidate for NA reserved seat, and Sadaf Naseem, PML (N) candidate for provincial assembly, spoke in support of the rights of women and children, and the revival of democracy.