LAHORE, July 16: Former president Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, who recently merged his Millat Party with the Pakistan Muslim League, will play an active role in reorganizing the ruling party and taking it to regions where it doesn't have much following at present.

Talking to Dawn here on Friday, he said he would be going to the masses during the next few months to give them a new ray of hope based on realism and promote inter-provincial harmony.

He said people of Sindh, those in the rural areas in particular, felt disappointed for various reasons and there was a dire need to take steps to remove their misgivings.

Similarly, people of Balochistan must be assured that days of their exploitation were over and they had as important a role to play in national affairs as people of other provinces.

Problems of backward areas of Punjab and the NWFP should also be addressed immediately, the former president said, adding that he would urge the government to set its priorities right to meet the present day requirements.

People, he said, made up the most precious asset of a country and it was regrettable that in the past they were not given the central position they should have been accorded.

Mr Leghari said he would advise the PML leadership to change the direction of the party to make people believe that the government had the determination to solve all the problems facing them. "We'll work very hard to make the PML a formidable force and an issued-based party."

In response to a question, Mr Leghari said he had the recognition in all provinces because of which he could bring about harmony among them. To play such a role, he said, he did not need any government or party office. He said having been a former president he would not like to take any government or party position but would play his role to the best of his capabilities.

Mr Leghari said some people might say that he was an MNA like others and was not playing any role at present. This, he said, was not the right thinking. He said he was duty-bound to offer his point of view on important national issues and he was already performing his duty well.

He said he had pointed out the mistakes committed by the government and advised how they should be rectified. In response to a question, the former president said the ruling Pakistan Muslim League was a new entity for him just like it was new to all others who had merged their parties with it.

He said he had joined the new entity at the invitation of President Pervez Musharraf. He said his defunct Millat Party was working on a 20-point programme and when it merged itself with the PML, Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and former prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali assured him that all these points would be implemented in letter and spirit. These points, the former president said, dealt with basic problems of the people.

Answering a question, Mr Leghari said the balance of powers between the president and the prime minister struck through the 17th constitutional amendment guaranteed a durable democratic system for the country. Now, he believed, there would be no military intervention and the democratic system would flourish.

Mr Leghari said the powers available to the president under Article 58(2-B) of the Constitution would be an effective safeguard against military interventions.

He regretted that Mian Nawaz Sharif as prime minister had centralized all powers because of which he had become a 'fascist dictator'. Mr Sharif, he said, also tried to subordinate all centres of powers, including the parliament and judiciary.

He disclosed that at a meeting with Mr Sharif he had told him that the more powers he centralized the more 'worthless' and vulnerable he would become. A prime minister who subordinates all state institutions was not worth more than 50 paisa - the price of a bullet, Mr Leghari claimed to have told the all-powerful Mr Sharif.

He said he had also told Mr Sharif in plain terms that his 'fascism' would be fatal for the system as it would inevitably lead to a military intervention. In fact, he said, at the time the former prime minister was grabbing all powers, there was need to delegate them. The former president said although Ms Benazir Bhutto had also tried to subordinate the judiciary she did not touch the limits Mr Sharif would.