LAHORE, Aug 1: PML-N parliamentary party leader in the Punjab Assembly Rana Sanaullah Khan thinks that the absence of a genuinely democratic system is the major cause of the growing number of terrorist activities in the country.

Talking to reporters here on Sunday, he said unless Pakistan was made an open and democratic society, lawlessness would not come under control.

Rana said only a few months ago Gen Musharraf was targeted twice in a space of as many weeks. A number of such incidents had taken place subsequently and now the prime minister-designate had a narrow escape.

He said a large number of people had been arrested by the investigation agencies to catch the terrorists and break their network. But the attack on Mr Shaukat Aziz had established that all efforts made so far to uproot terrorism had failed to yield the required results.

In his opinion, a dictatorial system in which people were not free to express their views and get their problems solved always prompted the aggrieved lot to resort to terrorism. To substantiate his argument, the lawyer from Faisalabad cited the example of the situation in Indian-held Kashmir.

He said although some 700,000 troops had been deployed in occupied Kashmir, people there were targeting occupying forces as well as important Indian installations. This was because the Kashmiris did not like the system given to them.

A similar situation prevailed in other dictatorships, the PML-N leader said. Compared to this, he said, terrorism was not seen in societies where people enjoyed their democratic rights. Since they could express their views on any subject, get any genuine demand met through talks, they did not have to resort to terrorism or any other militant act.