LAHORE, July 15: ARD President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi has said that refusal of the rulers to constitue a Kargil commission is the confession of their crime.

Talking to newsmen and party workers during appearance before the National Accountability Court here on Saturday, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, who is also the acting president of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), said that the ARD would constitute a Kargil commission in case it was not constituted by the rulers. He said that recommendations of the Hamoodur Rehman Commission were not implemented in the past but the recommendations of a Kargil commission would be implemented.

He said that the number of Pakistan Army soldiers martyred during the Kargil misadventure was much higher than the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971. Kargil was under the control of Pakistan till 1970 but it was captured by India along with Siachin after the first military defeat of Pakistan in 1971. No investigation had been held into the Kargil operation so far and the people had been kept in dark.

He said that the departure of the rulers had become imminent because all the democratic forces of the country had been mobilised against the army rule and for the restoration of democracy.

The ARD and the Mutthida Majlis-i-Amal were cooperating and only the announcement of a grand opposition was left to be made. The chief election commissioner had also given his verdict against the political activities of the president in uniform. The door of honourable exit would be closed and people would throw them out of power if the rulers did not take advantage of the July 31 deadline given to them by the opposition.

He said that the political parties should get ready for a decisive campaign for the restoration of democracy and the general election during this year. He said that the country was in the grip of the worst economic crisis of its history due to corruption of the rulers. The statements issued to absolve Gen Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz of Steel Mills sale and stock market crash raised many questions. Murder of MMA Sindh Vice-President Hassan Turabi was a national tragedy. The government should arrest and punish the culprits.