ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: Jailed president of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and opposition's prime ministerial candidate Makhdoom Javed Hashmi on Friday said the National Assembly Speaker had "insulted" democracy and parliament by not issuing orders to produce him in the NA.

"The Speaker has become a hostage in the hands of Gen Musharraf's military government," Mr Hashmi said in a statement from Adiala Jail and released by the party's camp office.

Mr Hashmi, who is also the acting president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, said the Speaker had no powers at all and took "dictations" directly from the Aiwan-i-Sadr (presidency).

The jailed opposition leader said it was his constitutional and legal right as a candidate to be present in the National Assembly to cast his vote. He said the denial of this right to him was like a "robbery in broad daylight."

He said that he was passing his days in the jail considering it a "national duty." He said the credibility of Shaukat Aziz's election as the prime minister had become zero after the opposition's boycott. He said the unity of opposition parties was a victory for the democratic forces and a prelude to the end of dictatorship.

Mr Hashmi thanked the ARD and the MMA for reposing confidence in him and nominating him as their joint candidate. He further said the decision of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to nominate him as a joint opposition candidate would further strengthen the ARD. He said this decision would also prove to be a milestone in the ongoing struggle for the restoration of democracy in the country.

The ARD president lauded the role of PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai and BNP MNA Abdur Rauf Mengal and said they had always supported the democratic forces. He further said Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman had proved that they were not ready to accept dictatorial decisions and wanted to see democracy in the country.

Mr Hashmi said it was his commitment with the 150 million people of Pakistan that he would continue his struggle for the restoration of constitution and democracy. "I am ready to go to jail 100 times for the rights of the people", he added.

He vowed to continue his struggle till the restoration of the 1973 Constitution in its real spirit. "It is my crime that I want an independent foreign policy of the country," Mr Hashmi said.

He said that he considered army a sacred institution, but at the same time he wanted to see the army in barracks and not in the corridors of power. He said that he "could not see army opening fire on its own people."

Mr Hashmi said that he was being punished because of his demand to form an inquiry commission on Kargil war. Moreover, he said, the government had put him in jail for 23 years as he wanted to see both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan.