LAHORE, July 30: Sindh PPP Secretary-General Nafees Siddiqui says if Gen Musharraf wants to hold talks with his party it doesn’t mean that the party has changed its principled stand on any issue.

Siddiqui, a prominent lawyer, said on Monday his party would not like to come to power through the backdoor, and, thus, all political forces should rest assured that it would not compromise its principles.

He said being a democratic party, the PPP would not like to close its doors for talks, especially when they were aimed at the restoration of democracy and free and fair elections under the supervision of an interim government.

“We’ll not accept Gen Musharraf in uniform. And there will be no change in the policy of the PPP on any issue”.

Siddiqui said the country was passing through a very serious crisis at present and people would have to choose between democratic forces and what he called extremists.

He said most of the people would support a democratic order in the country, and dialogue was the only way to restore democracy.

“We don’t want any new general should take over. We are in favour of a smooth transition to democracy. We want that all parties should get a level playing field in the elections”.

The PPP leader said there would be nothing wrong in holding talks for these objectives.

He said a popular democratic government would be in a better position to deal with militancy and extremism and improve the country’s image abroad. Terrorism, he argued, could not be combated by ‘state terrorism’.

The PPP chairperson, he said, had credibility at international level and her leadership would be in the interest of the country.