26 June 2004	Saturday	07 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

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ISLAMABAD, June 25: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) secretary-general Saranjam Zamindar has taken exception to US assistant secretary of state Christina Rocca's assertion that Pakistan is more democratic now than before the October 1999 coup.

In a statement issued here on Friday, the PML-N leader said if the United States liked the sort of democracy where army chief assumed presidency of the country through a "fake referendum" after staging a coup against an elected government and subjugated parliament with arbitrary amendments in the Constitution then the Americans should also embrace similar democratic system.

He said Ms Rocca's tributes to the "Pervezian democracy" were actually designed to justify President Bush's support to the government of generals.

He said despite the praises showered by President Bush and his officials on the military rule in Pakistan, the American people and their representatives would never approve his policies. He noted that several members of the Congressional sub- committee, addressed by Christina Rocca, had severely criticized Gen Musharraf and his "distorted democracy."

The PML-N leader said the US government's double standards of supporting dictatorships that trampled the very democratic values cherished by the American people had become target of worldwide criticism.