HYDERABAD, Aug 4: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has said that if political parties decide to contest 2007 general elections under Gen Pervez Musharraf it will be tantamount to giving legitimacy to the dictatorial regime.

He said that opposition parties should not confuse people and decide once and for all that there would be no dialogue with the regime.

He was speaking to journalists at the residence of local PTI leader G.N. Qureshi in Latifabad-3 on Friday.

He said that free and fair polls could not be held under Musharraf-led regime because previous general and local bodies’ elections had been rigged and it had been reported by international observers.

“The opposition parties should not play on both sides of the wickets. Let us take a decision”, he said.

Mr Khan appreciated a clause of the charter of democracy which dealt with the role of intelligence agencies and strengthening of the judiciary.

He said that from the Sindh crisis it proved that the Musharraf regime had installed a fake government in the province just to keep the majority party out of power. “People of Sindh had been disenfranchised by the military dictator just to perpetuate his own rule.

“Pervez Musharraf has been blackmailed for his own vested interests and gives concessions to them in return while people are the losers”, he said.

He said that the government was giving political bribes just to keep its set-up intact through artificial means and the price was being paid by the people.

He said that Pakistan was the second country after Burma where a general was sitting at the helm while rest of the world believed that the army had got nothing to do with governance.

He said that no-trust move against the prime minister should be first step for launching of movement and it should not be last step of opposition’s agitation.

He said that he would convince parties in the forthcoming meeting to weigh other options which should follow no-trust motion and the step should be to bring people on roads and streets.

He said that the president and the prime minister first got their statements regarding the Lebanon war cleared from the US before issuing them because they could not afford to earn opprobrium of America.

He demanded complete provincial autonomy under the 1973 Constitution on the ground that no where in the world a strong centre guarantees strong provinces.

He said that only strong federating units could make the federation stronger.

He said that one syllabus should be introduced in all schools and the divide of the rich and the poor should be done away with.

He said that it was not fair that for the elites books were imported while the poor studied in government-run schools.

He said that Hudood laws should be discussed in parliament.

Our Dadu correspondent adds: The PTI chief said that an anti-Musharraf drive would be launched from September and rallies and demonstrations would be held across the country to get rid of the unconstitutional system.

He was speaking at a public gathering outside the Government Girls’ Degree College here on Thursday night.

He said that if the opposition parties in the ARD did not support the campaign against the government and Gen Musharraf, the PTI alone would launch a campaign.

He said that the Chaudhry brothers had been made rulers of the country which was not justice with the people.