PESHAWAR, Jan 15: The Pakistan People's Party has criticized President Pervez Musharraf for issuing admonition to the people of Balochistan and emphasized that the armed forces must not be pitted against fellow-countrymen.

Speaking at a reception hosted by a PPP leader, Arbab Tariq, here on Saturday, former interior minister Naseerullah Khan Babar said that in the 70s a military operation had been carried out in Balochistan instead of finding a political solution to the problem.

Now again, he said, a military chief wanted to suppress a people struggling for their constitutional rights. But this time the people of Pakistan would not allow the dictators to use force against the Baloch people, he added.

Referring to the strength of the PPP as a party, provincial PPP chief Rahimdad Khan said that none of the dictators had ever succeeded in his attempts to divide the party.

He said the PPP was the only political force that had rendered numerous sacrifices for the restoration of democracy in the country. The PPP, he said, had never compromised on principles.

Mr Khan expressed the confidence that PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan Muslim League chief Nawaz Sharif would soon come back to play their roles in the country's political situation. Pakistan, he hoped, would soon enter a democratic era under the leadership of Ms Bhutto.