SUKKUR, July 10: Convener of the ARD, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, has said that the nation was facing a 1971-like situation when the country was dismembered due to the wrong policies of the then military regime and 90,000 troops were made prisoners by India.

He said that national, religious, and political parties including the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and the ARD, lawyers, Bar Council, journalist bodies, and the PFUJ were unanimous on one point: there was no other role for the army in the Constitution than to defend the geographical frontiers of the country.

Nawabzada said this while talking to the newsmen on Wednesday.

He said in 1965 the nation was completely united and had extended wholehearted support to the army against the Indian aggression. But in 1971, it was divided and the army failed to deliver.

He criticized Gen Pervez Musharraf for drawing a line between his supporters and rivals, which had resulted in political polarization.

He said that the politicians had been struggling since the first army takeover in 1958 for a federal parliamentary system in the country and that centralization of power was a negation of the federal parliament system.

He said Quaid-i-Azam was opposed to a presidential form of government.