PESHAWAR, Feb 21: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed determination that the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) will unite all opposition parties to launch a decisive movement against the government in March.

“Many important decisions are to be taken in the month of March,” he said while addressing a provincial-level students’ convention on phone from London on Wednesday.

The convention was organised by the Muslim Students Federation (MSF) at Auqaf Hall here.

Mr Sharif said that a long march to Islamabad would also be organised the next month, forcing General Musharraf to relinquish power. He called upon the youth and students to rise against the government and play the kind of role played by the students in 1947. He said General Musharraf had failed to keep the promises he made while announcing his seven-point agenda. The country had been faced with a very critical situation, he said.

Law and order situation, in particular, had worsened, he said, adding that suicide attacks, bomb blasts and kidnappings for ransom had become the order of the day. “Even mosques and courts are not safe,” he said.

He said billions of rupees were being spent on the security of the president and the prime minister while the poor was vulnerable to the prevailing security situation and leading a miserable life.

The PML-N chief slammed the government for its policies regarding India, which, he said, was behaving like a superior nation.

He said India was not treating Pakistan as an equal.

“In my tenure, 11 nuclear tests were carried out against India’s five despite the US pressure. However, General Musharraf appears helpless before the Bush administration,” he said.

“Our country's frontiers are not safe as foreign planes are attacking our areas and killing innocent people,” he said.

Raja Zafarul Haq, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Pir Sabir Shah also spoke.

Earlier, Dr Bilal Bahlowal, provincial president of the MSF, welcomed the leaders.

Saranjam Khan, Ihsan Iqbal, Zulfiqar Ali, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi and Pir Sabir Shah also attended the convention.—PPI