LAHORE, June 3: Pakistan People’s Party leaders said here on Monday that the policies pursued by the military regime had failed to solve the thorny problems facing the country. There was, therefore, a dire need for the restoration of democratic system.

They said the regime should establish contact with Ms Benazir Bhutto before the situation slipped out of control and the masses took to the streets to hold the rulers accountable.

The warning shots came at a ceremony at which some important Pakistan Muslim League leaders from Gujranwala joined the PPP.

PPP’s Punjab president Qasim Zia, who presided over the meeting, cautioned the government against any move to ‘deform’ the constitution which was a consensus document, enjoying support of all political parties.

Time had come, the player-turned-politician said, for all political and religious forces to join hands. “Pakistan stands isolated at the international level. The foreign policy has failed. The country needs a popular leadership. The farce of referendum has established that the conglomerate of the puppet parties has failed to produce the results desired by the regime.”

Underlining the need for immediate fresh elections, Mr Zia said a representative government would be in a better position to steer the country out of the crises.

Former PPP secretary-general, Ahmad Mukhtar, said all policies of the military rulers had backfired and claims that foreign investment was streaming in were misleading. In his opinion, a political system needed to be restored without delay so that the armed forces could focus on their primary duty — the defence of the country.

PPP federal council secretary-general Khalid Kharal said the government should evolve national consensus by establishing contact with the political leadership. Using derogatory language against former president Farooq Leghari, he strongly criticised the regime for sending such a person as Pakistan’s emissary to various countries to present the country’s point of view on the standoff between the two nuclear armed neighbours.

Khwaja Muhammad Saleh, Noman Butt, Farooq Ansari, Mian Muhammad Iqbal Ansari, Chaudhry Muhammad Anwar Kamboh from Gujranwala and Mian Zahid Aslam Butt from Faisalabad formally joined the PPP. Some of the speakers claimed that the PPP would now be in a position to sweep the general elections in Gujranwala division.

Provincial information secretary Naveed Chaudhry and media incharge Iqbal Sialvi also spoke on the occasion.