December 4, 2002	Wednesday	Ramazan 28,1423

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LAHORE, Dec 3: Former president Rafiq Tarar urged all democratic forces to take up in parliament the issue of return home of exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Speaking at an Iftar party on Tuesday, he praised the former prime minister for resisting all external pressures and going ahead with the nuclear tests.

But, he regretted, that the “benefactor” of the country was humiliated on Oct 12, 1999.

He believed that the situation in the country would normalize only when the Sharifs were back home.

Punjab PML-N secretary-general Khwaja Saad Rafiq said that Gen Musharraf, not opposition parties, were the real threat to the Jamali government. He said if the prime minister tried to rein-in the generals who had developed a taste for political power, the PML-N would extend full cooperation.

He said dictatorship and the country could not co-exist. He believed that ultimately the dictator would have to quit. He made it clear that his party would not accept Gen Musharraf as president whether in uniform or without it. Jamaat-i-Islami MNA Farid Paracha said Gen Musharraf would have to take off his military uniform and the army would have to go back to the barracks. Similarly, he said, US troops would have to evacuate bases in Pakistan and their lackeys would face a dreadful end.

Pervaiz Malik, Zaeem Qadri, Bilal Yasin, Muhammad Ajasam Sharif and Naveed Kamal Bhatty also addressed.

Sharif family spokesman Farrukh, Mehr Ishtiaq, Amjad Aziz, Mujtaba Shujaa and Ali Haider Mirza were prominent among participants.