ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: A group of eminent citizens has issued an open letter addressed to the people of the country, asking them to realise ‘the gravity of the situation’ and struggle ‘against the authoritarian regime’.

“A time bomb is ticking in Pakistan,” warned the 15 prominent personalities, including former bureaucrat Roedad Khan, politician Sherbaz Mazari, Supreme Court judge (retd) K.M.A. Samadani, poet Ahmad Faraz, and peace activist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy.

“Today we feel ourselves unable to look our children in the eye, for the shame of what we did, and didn’t do during the last 59 years. For the shame of what we allowed to happen? Pakistan is under military rule for the fourth time and is going downhill.”

Pakistan, they observed, could not survive under military rule, with or without a civilian facade, because military rule lacked legitimacy and was an anachronism in the 21st century.

This is the third public letter written by eminent citizens questioning President Pervez Musharraf’s credentials and asking him to doff his uniform and restore true democracy.

Earlier two groups of retired chief justices, ambassadors, generals and parliamentarians had written the public letters in July and August urging Gen Musharraf to separate the offices of president and army chief and calling for national conciliation and restoration of democracy.

“Civil society lies at the feet of the army. Pakistan is ruled by a general in uniform who lacks both legitimacy and credibility,” said the letter issued on Monday.

Questioning the credibility of parliament and the prime minister, it said: “Today Pakistan has a disjointed, lopsided, topsy-turvy, hybrid political system — a non-sovereign rubber-stamp parliament, a general in uniform as ‘president’ and a figurehead prime minister.”

It said Gen Musharraf would continue to rule 160 million people with a democratic façade, thanks to the ‘corrupt’ and ‘unprincipled’ politicians who were ever ready to do business with military rulers.

“The foundations of the 1973 Constitution have been shaken by a power-hungry general with the help of corrupt politicians and a pliant judiciary,” it said.

The letter accused Gen Musharraf of defacing, disfiguring and mutilating the Constitution in violation of the condition imposed by the Supreme Court. “He has turned the parliament and the judiciary into a fig-leaf for unconstitutional and illegal practices. He reneged on his promise to give up the post of army chief and doff his uniform.”

About the president’s support for the ruling party, it said: “In an effort to acquire political support, Gen Musharraf, the Chief of the Army Staff, has openly identified himself and the army with one political party.

“Today the biggest single burning issue before the country is: How to reclaim the army from its abuse by a power-hungry junta who want to use it as an instrument for retaining political power.

“Instead of extricating the army from the Waziristan quagmire where the American-led war against ‘terrorists’ has resulted in the killing of innocent men, women and children, including security personnel, and the permanent alienation of tribesmen, Gen Musharraf jumped into the Baloch quicksand and opened a second front against the people of Balochistan resulting in the tragic death of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, head of Jamhoori Watan Party, and several of his companions.

“Not surprisingly, the federation is bursting at the seams. Provincial disharmony is at an all-time high.

“The much-trumpeted accountability is a farce. Today, known corrupt holders of public office are Gen Musharraf’s political allies and members of his cabinet,” it said.

Economy, the letter said, showed little perceptible sign of recovery. “Poverty has deepened; unemployment is on the rise; investors’ confidence has not been restored.

“It is now abundantly clear that free, fair and impartial elections cannot be held in this country, if Gen Musharraf remains in power.

“We believe that Pakistan cannot survive except as a democratic state based on the principle of sovereignty of the people”.

The letter said: “We have no alternative but to stand up and fight. If we succeed, and God willing we shall, we may get a new Pakistan — free, open, democratic, proud. A dynamic, developed, and steady country, standing on its own feet, in control of its destiny, genuinely respected by its neighbours and the democratic world. A country with a future. Another country.”

The signatories include former presidents of the Supreme Court Bar Association Justice (retd) Tariq Mahmood and Hamid Khan, Dr Kaiser Bengali, Mairaj Muhammad Khan, Masood Mufti, Barrister Baachaa, former ambassadors Amir Usman and Mansoor Alam, Safdar Siddiqui, and Syed Shahid Hussain.