06 September 2004	Monday	20 Rajab 1425

QUETTA, Sept 5: Politicians and leaders of religious parties must unite to stop the military's interference in political affairs and such interventions will prove to be harmful for the country's integrity , says Amir of the Al Hadith Party Senator Allama Sajid Mir.

He was speaking at a press conference in the local press club here on Saturday. Criticizing generals' role in the country's politics, he held them responsible for what he termed constitutional and democratic crisis and said there would be no political stability unless the military establishment abandoned its role in politics, adding that it was vital for inter-provincial harmony, too.

Prof Mir reminded that when President Pervez Musharraf had secured power, he had promised to remove disharmony among the federating units but, he said, under his command, the government had only increased the distance between provinces besides increasing the mutual hatred proving that military rule only worsened the situation.

Highlighting Pakistan's national composition, he said that the country was multi-ethnic and multi-lingual and it was important for the government to respect the aspirations of the people belonging to all nationalities, adding that unilateral decisions would harm the nation's solidarity.

Allama Sajid said that the people of smaller provinces criticized Punjab whenever generals governed the country, adding that deprived people were prone to protest when they had no say in the decision-making process on domestic and foreign issues.

He said that the root cause of misunderstandings between the federation and smaller provinces was the insistence on centralisation of power and said that rulers should not forget the bitter experience of the separation of East Pakistan, adding that rulers were committing the same mistakes by ignoring deprived provinces.

He said that the changing of three prime ministers within eight weeks reflected the weakness of the political system.