ISLAMABAD, May 29: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz information secretary, Siddiqul Farooque, on Saturday said every military ruler had followed the agenda of the foreign masters and none of them was sincere to the nation.

Speaking at a press conference at the party's camp office here after his release from Mianwali Jail, the PML-N information secretary said the history proved that from Ayub Khan to Gen Pervez Musharraf, "all military dictators had been pursuing the agenda of the US".

Mr Farooque claimed that Field Martial Ayub Khan even kept on receiving $72,000 from the US for lifetime as an honorarium. He said everyone knew that Wana operation had been launched on the directives of the US.

He said the rulers were not only guilty of violating the Constitution and contempt of Supreme Court, but also had committed the crime of abetment by forcefully deporting Shahbaz Sharif on May 11.

The information secretary noted that the government had booked Shahbaz Sharif in a murder case, and he was allowed by the court to return and face the charges. However, instead of letting him prove his innocence in the court, Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and others forced him to go back. Therefore, he said, all of them had committed a crime by enabling a "murderer" flee from justice. They too must be booked in the Sabzazar murder case, he added.

He said the government had talked of giving a "free hand" for receiving Shahbaz Sharif, but the way they deployed thousands of policemen to block roads, arrested thousands of PML-N leaders and workers, declared red alert at the Lahore airport, all that indicated "cowardice and weakness" of the rulers.

"They were so frightened by the expected arrival of Shahbaz Sharif that Gen Musharraf himself phoned a private TV channel administration to stop telecast of Shahbaz's interview," he said.

Mr Farooque challenged the ruling clique to show courage by inviting genuine national leadership, including Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, back to the country and holding free and transparent elections under an impartial election commission.