LAHORE, June 14: The PML-N, critical of the policies and performance of the government, said on Saturday time had come to take the struggle against the rulers from parliament to the streets.

“To save the country, we’ll have to oust the present rulers,” Punjab PML-N secretary-general and MNA Khwaja Saad Rafiq said at a news conference in the presence of MNAs Pervaiz Malik, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Mian Nawaz Sharif’s spokesman Zaeem Qadri and former minister Binyamin Rizvi.

Mr Qadri predicted that Gen Musharraf and summer would go together.

Mr Rafiq alleged that Gen Musharraf was pushing the country to anarchy and was deliberately humiliating the beard and the bearded to impose his own views on the country.

He said the general was terrifying his countrymen with his military uniform and charming the West with his attractive suits. However, he warned that any deal struck by the US with the military dictator during his forthcoming visit to Camp David would not be acceptable.

He criticized the finance minister for visiting the nuclear installations of the country at this juncture. He alleged that the minister was like a US inspector in Pakistan.

Assailing the government for challenging the recognized credentials of the MMA leaders before the Supreme Court, the PML-N leader said the move was targeted at pressing the religious parties alliance. Any attempt to deseat the MMA legislators or dismiss the NWFP government would be resisted by the joint opposition with full force, he added.

He said it was regrettable that the democratic system had not stabilized during the past five decades because every now and then the elected governments were sacked. Unless Article 6 of the Constitution was used against those responsible for subverting the Constitution, there was little hope for the system to take roots, he continued.

He said members of the judiciary should play the role entrusted by the Constitution.

A reporter pointed out that the PML-N was also responsible for weakening the judiciary as the party government had attacked the apex court building when it was hearing an important case. Also, during the PML-N rule an LHC judge had convicted Ms Bhutto and her husband allegedly under instructions from the government functionaries and the case had been remanded by the Supreme Court on the ground that the judge was biased in his attitude.

Mr Rafiq claimed that it was the then chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah, not the government, who had got the Supreme Court building attacked.

MNA Pervaiz Malik criticized the new budget, saying it was more to benefit the elite and hit the poor. He said no step had been taken to revive the sick industry.

He said during his US visit, Gen Musharraf should demand another $9 billion from it as compensation to the damage Pakistan had suffered for its assistance in war on terrorism in Afghanistan.