KARACHI, July 20: The countdown for removing Gen Pervez Musharraf and dismantling his dispensation will commence from Aug 1, after the July 31st deadline, and within three months the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy would make way for an interim setup for holding free, fair and transparent elections under an independent election commission.

This was stated by Nafees Siddiqui, secretary-general of the People’s Party Parliamentarians’ Sindh chapter at a news conference here on Thursday.

He claimed that opposition parties represented true aspirations of people who wanted an end to Gen Musharraf dispensation and return of the military to barracks to pave the way for a strong and sustainable constitutional democracy in which parliament was supreme.

“Time has come when it must be decided once for and all whether this country should be ruled by the military, which has resulted in the country’s fragmentation and primacy of centrifugal tendencies or should the people be empowered to govern it through their elected representatives in a transparent and free election,” said Mr Siddiqui, adding that ARD components were struggling to save the country from disintegration. He claimed that the Charter of Democracy signed by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif and endorsed by other opposition parties was to achieve that objective.

He said the charter would support and build institutions, ensuring parliament was supreme and judiciary was independent and benefit of economic progress trickled down to the common man. It also envisaged financial powers to the senate.

He was of the view that there could be no free, fair and transparent elections under Gen Musharraf.

Mr Siddiqui claimed that with each passing day, the Musharraf regime was becoming weak and losing ground, which he said was evident from unfolding scandals of corruption.

In this context, he cited the stock exchange scam and alleged that the government was trying to find scapegoat to cover up the big fish.

He said the president had pledged to declare his assets every year but he had not done so. He also criticised the military action in Balochistan and Waziristan. In Balochistan, he said, people were fighting for their rights – economic and political and democratic.

Mr Siddiqui alleged that the government was implicating Ms Bhutto in fresh cases, but said it would not deter her from leading the struggle for revival of democracy in the country.

He criticised the Sindh chief minister for his alleged slanderous statements and acts of vengeance against PPP leaders.