PESHAWAR, Aug 28: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has claimed that the Sept 6 public meeting of the All Parties Democratic Alliance in Peshawar will prove to be the “last nail in the coffin of the present government”.

The meeting would prove that there was no place for dictatorship in the country and that the people wanted democracy, said PML-N’s provincial finance secretary Sher Azam at a news conference here on Tuesday. Party’s provincial joint secretary Arbab Khizr Hayat, Mohammad Afzal and Arshad Qureshi were also present.

Mr Azam accused the military rulers of depriving the people of their basic rights and putting the country’s solidarity at stake. He said frequent interventions by generals in the political affairs of the country had caused economic problems and the people wanted them to defend the frontiers of the country, instead of ruling it.

“President Musharraf must stand down to concentrate on his original job of defending the country against the enemies,” he added. He said President Gen Musharraf and his political aides had caused immense damage to institutions of the country.

The people, he said, wanted to see the power handed over to their elected representatives so that democratic institutions could be strengthened.

Mr Azam said the recent Supreme Court ruling had made it clear that no one could stop Nawaz Sharif from coming back, adding that the former prime minister would return before Ramazan.

Mr Azam warned of strong public reaction in case someone tried to create hurdles in his return. He said ministers Rashid Ahmad and Dr Sher Afgan were issuing controversial and baseless statements which revealed the government’s frustration.