HYDERABAD, July 28: Former federal minister for information Javed Jabbar has called for holding next general elections in 2007 under the supervision of a neutral and effective caretaker government, which should also have control over district governments.

He told Dawn on the sidelines of a one-day workshop in Tando Qaiser on Thursday that he personally believed one individual could not hold the offices of chief of army staff and president at the same time.

The country’s prevailing situation demanded an end to threatening attitude at government level and initiation of the process of reconciliation and dialogue to end confusion among people, he urged.

He said that the letter written by 18 individuals including intellectuals, parliamentarians and retired generals through Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) was the essence of their discussions which had continued for several days.

Finally, a draft committee headed by him finalised the contents of the letter, which was then sent to the president, the prime minister and heads of political parties, he added.

“We have been pondering over how to permanently end the army’s role in politics since September 2004 and signatories of the letter disagreed with the notion that the National Security Council (NSC) has effectively put an end to its role in politics. The NSC’s present structure gives it a political place in the system,” he observed.

He said that an effective and neutral caretaker regime which should have district governments under its administrative control should ensure that next general elections were held in a transparent manner.

To a question, Mr Jabbar clarified that he had joined Musharraf government with Millat Party’s permission and remained part of it for around a year for as long as Musharraf had been chief executive and had not become the president.

“Gen Musharraf became president after I resigned from his cabinet,” he said adding that the situation at that time had forced him to work with him because the removal of Nawaz government had created a vacuum.

He said that he was against an individual holding the office of chief of army staff and president at the same time and said that he had opposed a similar move by Zia when he was member of senate during the dictator’s martial law and records of the upper house could prove it.