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| July 27, 2005 | Wednesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 19, 1426 |
Local polls a test for workers: Nawaz
QUETTA, July 26: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has called upon democratic political parties to join hands to rid the nation of autocratic rulers and announced that his PML-N in collaboration with other political parties and groups would work for restoration of real constitutional rule in the country.
In a telephonic address from Jeddah to party members meeting in the Nasar House, he said that local body polls were a test case for workers to defeat opportunist elements.
Mr Sharif asserted that he was in a foreign country not at his own free will, but he was being kept outside the country because the PML-N leadership did not agree to compromise on principles.
The party’s secretary general Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, MNA Sardar Yaqoob Nasar and provincial president Rafiq Awan also spoke on the occasion.
Mr Sharif said it was the responsibility of democratic forces, particularly of major political parties, to wage a united struggle against the dictatorship, adding that the joint struggle would succeed in giving power back to the masses.
He said that workers were facing enormous difficulties in the struggle to revive the democratic rule, uphold the supremacy of parliament and restore the Constitution, but they would soon achieve victory.
He said that the army’s only role was to protect the borders of the country and defend the motherland and it must leave politics to political groups and let the people decide who should govern them.
The former premier categorically announced that his party would never have any deal with the forces which had undermined the Constitution and deprived the people of their democratic rights.
He announced that the party’s doors had been closed for elements which had changed loyalty and strengthened the hands of unconstitutional rulers.
Mr Sharif alleged that intelligence agencies, including the ISI, had stormed the Muslim League House in Islamabad and after occupying the party secretariat they handed it over to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
Referring to the forthcoming local body polls, the PML-N leader alleged that the government had planned to rig the elections. He urged workers to enter into agreements with all political groups except the ruling PML to defeat the anti-democratic forces.
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