RAWALPINDI, Jan 18: The local chapter of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) here on Sunday congratulated the party leadership for observing protest during President Gen Pervez Musharraf's speech to a joint session of parliament on Saturday.

The congratulation was extended to the PPP leaders by the party activists at a meeting organized by the party's secretary information, Rawalpindi, Haji Salim Mughal, here at a local hotel.

The meeting was also attended by the party central leaders, including Babar Awaan advocate, provincial information secretary Navid Chaudhry, district president (Rawalpindi) Chaudhry Mohammad Ayyub, general-secretary Sardar Shoab Mumtaz, Sultan Mehmood Qazi and Babu Idrees.

The PPP activists said their leaders had played a historic role under the banner of the Alliance for Restoration Democracy, while opposing the address of "an un-elected president" to the parliament.

They said no army dictator or a government servant could address the parliament according to the country's constitution and the ethics of democracy. They alleged that two provinces still opposed President Musharraf and that his getting the vote of confidence had no connection with democracy or the will of the people.

The PPP, they said, would continue its struggle till the revival of the 1973 Constitution and institutionalized democracy. They asked the government to allow the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, to come to her homeland and serve her countrymen.

The masses, they said, still loved Ms Bhutto and the PPP as the party had played a historic role for the implementation of democracy in the country. They also asked the government to release the incarcerated Asif Ali Zardari as soon as possible as it had failed to convict him even in a single case during the last seven years.

Democracy, they said, was the only solution to the economic, social and foreign policy-related issues. Without the implementation of true democracy, no country could make progress, they maintained.

Our Reporter from ISLAMABAD adds: Pakistan People's Party chairperson's political secretary, Naheed Khan, has said the address of a BPS- 22 officer to the parliament was totally "illegal and unconstitutional".

Naheed Khan, in a statement issued here on Sunday, said Gen Pervez Musharraf had proved to be the worse dictator. Gen Musharraf has held the parliament hostage and refused to respect the representatives of the people, she added.

She said threats faced by the country were the outcomes of the president's own doings, and the only way to avert these threats was that Gen Musharraf should step down immediately.