KARACHI, July 18: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has expressed its readiness to extend support to President Musharraf provided that he gives up his uniform and restores true democracy in the country.

This was stated by PTI’s Deputy Secretary General

Air Marshal (r) Shahid Zulfiqar, the PTI’s deputy secretary general, told a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Friday that the party would never support any undemocratic move by Gen Musharraf.

“If he (Gen Musharraf) wants to keep the office of president, he will have to seek a vote from the parliament as stated in the Constitution. It is the prerogative of parliament to elect a head of the state through secret ballots,” he pointed out.

In reply to a question, the PTI leader explained that the party opposed the Legal Framework Order (LFO) because an individual could not be authorized to bring about an amendment to the Constitution.

He contested the impression that the PTI’s activities had confined to drawing rooms due to the entry into it of apolitical elements.

He maintained that efforts were under way to streamline the party’s affairs on a sound footing in order to deepen its roots in the masses. For the purpose, he pointed out, the party was being reorganized throughout the country.

Mirza Jehangir Rehman, the PTI’s Sindh chief, also spoke on the occasion and claimed that the low turnout in the last elections indicated that people had lost faith in the prevailing political system. “They are fed up with the major political parties,” he remarked.

The silent majority of voters, he observed, could only be mobilized if they were made to believe that the leadership seeking powers was really sincere and committed only to serve the masses. He admitted that the PTI could not ensure this in the past and attributed the failure to the party’s induction of tested politicians who, he said, did not deliver.

The ongoing process of reorganization, he added, would lead it to come to the expectations of the masses.

Responding to another question, Mirza Rehman said that the PTI’s stand on the Greater Thal Canal was quite clear. “We oppose any such project that is prepared without a consensus among the federating units.”