HYDERABAD, April 26: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Sindh General Secretary Nafees Siddiqui said on Thursday that the next general elections would be fought between the enlightened and the extremist.

He said while talking to journalists at the Bhurgari House that the country’s prosperity lied in defeat to extremists.

He said that the country was in the grip of constitutional crisis. The restoration of democracy was dependent on the independence of judiciary, he said and stressed that fair and transparent elections were the need of the hour.

Army generals had turned to the judiciary after destroying all the other institutions of the country but it was for the first time in country’s history that a judge had refused to bow to their wishes, he said.

Countrywide protests by political parties were aimed at restoration of the supremacy of constitution and saving the vital institutions of the state, he said and called for reinstatement of chief justice and punishment for the authors of presidential reference against him.

Mr Siddiqui said that Gen Pervez Musharraf was taking refuge behind the slogan of enlightenment to perpetuate his rule and claimed that it was PPP’s slogan not his.

He called the Lal Masjid issue a farce and said that as soon as the election schedule was announced Ms Benazir Bhutto would return to Pakistan. Even if no announcement was made she would return by the year end, he said.

He said that the PPP did not want to come to power through the backdoor. The party’s doors were open for all who were prepared to hold talks for the restoration of democracy, he said and claimed that the people once again wanted to see Ms Bhutto in power.

MPA Zahid Ali Bhurgari, Amanullah Siyal, Aftab Khanzada, Fayaz Ali Shah and a large number of party leaders were present on the occasion.