07 August 2004	Saturday	20 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

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LAHORE, Aug 6: Punjab PPP President Qasim Zia says the system in practice at present is dictatorial, not democratic, and opposition parties will welcome cooperation from democratic forces keen to set the country on the right course.

At a reception hosted by provincial information secretary Naveed Chaudhry for MPA Farzana Raja on her appointment as central coordinator for the information bureau, the PPP leader alleged that all powers were with Gen Musharraf and it was for this reason that he was changing prime ministers at will.

He believed that the current situation could not last long and a change was bound to take place. About his meeting with Mian Nawaz Sharif in Jeddah, he said it was held at a dinner the exiled leader had hosted for him. He said Ms Benazir Bhutto was aware of the meeting and she had asked him to pay her regards to the PML-N leader.

Naveed Chaudhry disputed President Musharraf's reported claim that the government was winning the war on terror. He said at a time when the president and the prime minister-designate were sitting in "bunkers", such claims sounded hollow.

He said a movement against the government was going on as a result of which pressure against the rulers was mounting. He claimed that the day was not far away when the government would not be there.

Farzana Raja was critical of the government's policies. She said not long ago the president had been targeted, after which the prime minister-designate and the Balochistan chief minister were also attacked. Rulers who were so vulnerable could not be expected to give security to the common man, she argued.

She did not expect a better situation when Mr Shaukat Aziz would become prime minister. At most, she said, the new head of government would enforce what she called the IMF agenda.

The PPP legislator said the present system was bound to collapse over the next five to six months. In response to a question, she said opposition legislators were playing their role in assemblies and they would not like to give the rulers a free hand by tendering resignations. Other party leaders Altaf Qureshi, Mian Misbahur Rehman, Azma Bukhari and Iqbal Sialvi were also present at the reception.