KARACHI, April 1: President of Pakistan People’s Party’s Sindh chapter Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that democracy is a must to ensure socio-economic development in the country.

Addressing the Karachi Bar Association here on Saturday, he accused the military government of ‘injecting extremism in the country’. He also demanded that the general elections to be held next year be held under the supervision of an independent election commission.

Mr Shah said that the military regime was leading the country to bankruptcy and destruction. The PPP would not compromise with the regime, he added.

He observed that the country was currently passing through serious internal and external crises due to the regime’s anti-people policies. He said that the problems of Balochistan and Waziristan and other parts of the country could not be settled through military means.

He said that democracy could not be restored in the country by marginalizing the PPP, “which is the largest democratic and the only liberal party of the country.”

It was the PPP that gave Pakistan a constitution and despite being in majority at that time, it did not take any undue advantage in the parliament, rather it had done whatever was in the best interest of masses.

Mr Shah rejected all claims by the government with regard to the cases against the party chairperson Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari, and said the cases were fake and baseless. He said that the PPP leaders were being targeted while many of those wanted in NAB cases were sitting in the government. He also condemned the ‘media trial’ targeted against the party leadership.

He demanded immediate withdrawal of the Interpol red notices and the false cases, and stressed that accountability should be done in a transparent manner.

He urged the Karachi Bar to raise its voices against the regime for trampling over the constitution, human rights violations and creating law and order situation in the country. He said that the independent status of judiciary must be restored. The PPP always supported lawyers’ struggle for real democracy in the country.

President of the Karachi Bar Association Mahmoodul Hasan and Joint Secretary Manzoor Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.

They condemned the ongoing military action in Waziristan and Balochistan, and said that only democratic means could resolve the problems.—PPI