PESHAWAR, Aug 18: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has said reopening of ‘dead’ cases against Nawaz Sharif by the National Accountability Bureau represents a fresh move by the ‘beleaguered’ regime to harass political parties struggling for ‘genuine democracy’ in the country.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Saturday, provincial PML-N chief Pir Sabir Shah said such measures could not stop political parties from mounting a campaign against one-man rule.

He claimed that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had destroyed each and every institution of the country to protect and advance his personal interests. He said the nation would not allow Gen Musharraf to get himself re-elected from the existing assemblies.

He said President Musharraf’s re-election from the existing parliament would trigger a new crisis in the country.

Sabir Shah said the PML-N, after coming to power, would file references against Gen Musharraf and his “accomplices” for imposing military rule and causing economic losses to the nation.

At present, he said, certain ‘robbers’, wanted by the NAB in corruption cases, were sitting in the federal cabinet. He said his party would bring these people to the court because they were answerable to the people.

He said ‘opportunists’ had always been in power since the creation of the country, but now they would be made accountable for their wrongdoing.

He said the newly-formed All Parties Democratic Movement was spearheading the struggle for genuine democracy in the country. The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy was a component of the APDM.

He said some political parties were not components of the ARD but they helped launch the APDM.

He said the London multi-party conference was a historic event, which injected new vigour into the democratic movement against Gen Musharraf and his political allies.

The APDM, he said, would hold its second public meeting on Aug 22 in Quetta and the third one in Peshawar on Sept 6. He said the PML had advised its district organisations to convene their meetings and bring the maximum number of people to the Peshawar gathering.

He said the rulers’ days had been numbered which was why they were taking strict measures against democracy-loving forces.

Answering a question, he said his party had so far received 105 applications for the NWFP Assembly seats.