ISLAMABAD, Sept 26: Information secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) has criticised the statement of the attorney general in the Supreme Court that if Gen Musharraf is declared ineligible for president’s office, he will not give up his army chief’s post, and said Gen Pervez Musharraf’s dream of becoming ‘Pakistan’s Pinochet’ will not come true.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the PML-N leader said time had come for Gen Musharraf to leave as the entire nation wanted him to go.

“Like him (Gen Musharraf), Gen Pinochet of Chile also refused to give up army chief office when he was forced to step down from the president’s office after suffering defeat in presidential referendum in 1990. There are great similarities in style and governance of both Gen Musharraf and Gen Pinochet, who overthrew government of President Allende who had appointed him as commander-in-chief in 1973.”

Mr Iqbal said the Pinochet’s government was charged with disappearing over 3,000 citizens and causing thousands more to flee during his rule, and driving lust for power was the main feature of his rule. In Pakistan, the whereabouts of hundreds of missing persons are not known. He said, “the statement by the attorney general that there is no bar on army chief to relinquish his post casts very negative impression about military as an institution because all disciplined institutions are governed by strict rules and procedures. If there was no legal and procedural bar on army chief to leave office, then we may have an anarchical situation. Pakistan deserves a better future in the 21st century rather than being pushed into the ‘70s to become Pinochet’s Chile.

The PML-N leader said in civilised societies peaceful means of regime change were allowed to function freely but where such mechanism were not allowed to work societies drifted towards violent means of regime change. He said the PML-N would continue to struggle for complete supremacy of rule of law and an end to military dictatorship along with APDM parties. “The crackdown against opposition by the Musharraf regime shows that it is incapable of facing fair and free election and wants the presidential election to be a one-sided affair,” he said.