NAWABSHAH, March 22: Sindh People’s Party Parliamentarians president Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said the country cannot be run through what he called artificial democracy and demanded holding of general elections in 2005.

He told a press conference at the party office here on Tuesday that the country was facing internal and external crisis and there was lawlessness, insecurity, poverty and tension everywhere. The problems could only be resolved if there was a true democracy, he observed.

He claimed that the government was artificial because it had come into power through rigging in election and political manipulation.

Mr Shah said the PPP was ready to hold talks with President Gen Pervez Musharraf but he should restore the Constitution as it was before Oct 12, 1999.

He demanded that an independent election commission should be constituted to hold fair elections so that a representative government could be formed and democracy restored.

He said the government and the PPP were in contact at the top level but he was not aware of details.