LAHORE, Jan 2: A PML-N leader who was deputy chairman of the Planning Commission in 1999, on Sunday, rejected President Musharraf's claim that the country was on the brink of default when he had toppled the government of Mian Nawaz Sharif.

At a news conference, Ahsan Iqbal claimed there was not even the remotest possibility of the default as the country had enough foreign exchange reserves and was facing no economic problem.

He said the GDP growth rate had risen from 1.7 per cent to 4.2 during the first two years of the PML-N government and the industry was picking up fast. Foreign exchange reserves stood at $1.5billion, five times higher than the default level, and the loans had already been rescheduled.

All matters with the World Bank and the IMF were going on smoothly and the country was self-sufficient in food, the PML-N leader recalled. Ahsan Iqbal said in such a situation there was no question of the country defaulting, and the "picture of destruction" painted by Gen Musharraf in his recent address to the nation might be reflective of the general's state of mind.

The PML-N leader said the Sharif government had to face some economic difficulties immediately after the May 1998 tit-for-tat nuclear tests as a number of countries had imposed sanctions on Pakistan. But, he said, the then government had overcome all difficulties through better planning.

Ahsan Iqbal said Gen Musharraf had failed to make out a case for intervention and the reasons he had cited were simply unconvincing. He said a statement by a former COAS Gen Jehangir Karamat - that the military had intervened in 1999 to protect its corporate interests - was more instructive.

He assailed President Musharraf for retaining his military uniform even after the formation of the National Security Council, an institution the general had said would slam for good the door on military interventions.

He said the uniform might be a requirement for Gen Musharraf to perpetuate himself in power, but the country did not need it at all. In his opinion the military should stop interfering in political matters and confine its role to defending the country.

The PML-N leader regretted that Gen Musharraf wearing his army uniform was addressing political gatherings, which was something alien to the Constitution. He said at a time when even war-ravaged countries like Iraq and Afghanistan were returning to democracy, there was no justification for Gen Musharraf to keep Pakistan under a dictatorial rule.

Referring to Gen Musharraf's assertions that trillions of the national exchequer had gone down the drain as successive political governments had failed to give the country any worthwhile project, the PML-N leader came up with a list of Rs two trillion projects launched by the Sharif government.

Every project in the list was worth Rs five billion or more. He refused to accept Gen Musharraf's claim for putting the country on road to progress during the past five years.

He said Gen Ayub Khan's period was perhaps far better than Gen Musharraf's if seen on the touchstone of industrial and agricultural progress. Still, he said, it was the Ayub period which had sown the seeds for the discord which had led to the dismemberment of the country.

He said the state of national unity at present was painful as voices against the country's integrity were being raised by various people. Mian Nawaz Sharif's spokesman Zaeem Qadri, Ejaz Hafeez and Nasir Iqbal Khan were also present at the news conference.