LAHORE, June 16: The ARD chairman, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, on Monday accused President Gen Pervez Musharraf of having enforced autocracy in the country after seizing all executive and legislative powers from the Jamali government.

Expressing his views at a seminar organized by the People’s Lawyers Forum, he appealed to the nation to launch the final battle against the alleged dictatorial reign. “Gen Musharraf is towing the lines of his predecessors, as he has yet to transfer the powers to an elected government,” he alleged.

He also said the Common Wealth had not yet recognized Pakistan as an elected government-run country while the European Union had also announced that its parliament was not independent.

During a recently held meeting of the corps commanders, a consensus was evolved that the ultimate power to make the executive and political decisions would rest with Pervez Musharraf, he claimed.

While commenting on the working of the judiciary, the ARD chairman said the previous military regime had usurped the independence of the judiciary by offering three-year extension to the superior courts’ judges. He alleged that now the judiciary was not willing to forgo this extension, and there was little that the public could do in this regard.

He alleged that the promulgation of the Article 58-2(b) laid the foundation of the political destabilization in the country because the presidents had used this unbridled power from time to time to dismiss the elected governments.

“This law is against the norms of democracy, as there is no such concept in the parliamentary democracy to authorize the president to dismiss an elected prime minister. Parliament is a sovereign body as regard to the election of its head and his dismissal,” Nasrullah stated.

He denied the government’s claim that the last year’s general elections were held under the LFO. “At the time of the polls, the LFO had not come into force,” he said, adding that no democratic set-up would accept this package of constitutional amendments. Gen Musharraf would have to withdraw the LFO, he said.

PPP Punjab President Qasim Zia said the Punjab Assembly’s treasury benches had passed a resolution in favour of a president in military uniform. “The NA speaker’s ruling on the LFO has added insult to injury,” Mr Zia claimed, adding that the PPP would continue to fight for the sovereignty of parliament.

He hoped that Benazir Bhutto would once again get an opportunity to rule the country.

ANP Secretary-General Ehsan Wyne, Senators Sardar Latif Khan Khosa and Syed Sajjad Husain Bokhari, PPP ladies wing President (Lahore) Sajida Mir and Advocate Mian Hanif Tahir also spoke on the occasion.