March 23, 2006	Thursday	Safar 22, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, March 22: People are celebrating the 66th anniversary of Pakistan Resolution while an ‘unconstitutional government’ is trying to lead the nation away from the course that the Muslims of India had chosen under the leadership of Quaid-i-Azam to build a Muslim welfare state as envisioned by Allama Iqbal.

This was stated by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and president Shahbaz Sharif in a joint message to the nation on the Pakistan Day, says a handout here on Wednesday.

The PML-N leaders said the day was declared as Islamic Republic Day in the light of the Lahore Resolution, but successive military rulers, who repeatedly conspired against democratic regimes, had distorted not only the Lahore Resolution but also the consensus constitution of 1973.

They said the generals who forcibly captured power on October 12, 1999 were following an anti-nation and anti-Pakistan agenda, and were trying to annihilate the Islamic and democratic identity of Pakistan. They said the present rulers were following foreign advice to convert the country into an unconstitutional and undemocratic secular military dictatorship.

The PML-N leaders said: “It is a deplorable fact that the rulers have lined up the armed forces that carry the motto of faith, piety and Jihad, into a war against peaceful countrymen and Muslims, which has also undermined their prestige in the eyes of the people. “The nation today faced a situation similar to the one that emerged in 1971 due to mindless and uncalled for actions of a military dictator, which eventually led to dismemberment of the country.”

They said the current military dictator first ordered canon fire against the peaceful tribesmen of South Waziristan on the pretext of attacking presumed foreigners, and now a bloody operation continued in Balochistan.

Nawaz Sharif said the PML-N condemned the action against innocent Pakistanis and demanded its immediate termination. He demanded adequate compensation for the countrymen who had lost lives and property in the “illegal military action”.