ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: Quaid Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and exiled prime minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif says the government has not only degraded Parliament but also destabilized all state institutions.

In a message on the 56th death anniversary of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah issued from Jeddah and released by the party's office here on Saturday, Mohammad Nawaz Sharif said Gen Pervez Musharraf and his hand-picked fake politicians had committed the unpardonable crime of subverting the constitution.

Besides this, he said, they had also blatantly deviated from the nation's traditional position on Kashmir and seriously jeopardized the nuclear capability of Pakistan that was achieved with the hard-earned resources of the people.

Mr Sharif said in order to divert people's attention from the ideological basis and vital national interests, the present government had brought "fundamental changes in the education and cultural policies that negate the injunctions of Holy Quran and Sunnah and Islamic morality".

He said Gen Musharraf's interference in political affairs of the country had "damaged the prestige of the armed forces" and further "degraded them by pitting them against patriotic tribesmen for the sake of foreign interests". It would not be a misplaced concern if the people of Pakistan, who have always loved their valiant soldiers, might develop feelings of dislike against them, he added.

The PML-N chief said: "The death anniversary of Quaid-i-Azam is not only an occasion of mourning but also the day to ponder over our failure to fulfil his dream of developing Pakistan into an independent Islamic republic that would shine as a model state ensuring rule of law, an independent judiciary and a government dedicated to providing the basic needs to the people."

Mr Sharif said unfortunately soon after the death of father of the nation the "lust for power of certain generals with foreign links created hurdles in the evolution of the democratic system" the Quaid-i-Azam had strived for all his life.

He said democratic leaders of the people tried repeatedly to put the country back on the track, but adventurers foiled their efforts every time. And now, for the fourth time in Pakistan's history, "a handful of generals, in quest of personal power, have once again led the country away from its cherished goal of Islamic parliamentary democracy," he said.

He said the so-called "civilian administration set up by the generals through rigged elections and horse-trading" was so docile and powerless that Gen Musharraf changed two prime ministers within three months and replaced them with a non- political person, an act that had no precedence in the history of parliamentary democracy.

Nawaz Sharif said the only way to rescue Pakistan out of its present crisis was that the patriotic political elements of the country must step up their united struggle for restoration of 1973 Constitution and supremacy of the Parliament with a renewed determination.