PESHAWAR, Sept 25: The candidates running for the national and provincial assemblies seats from Nowshera and Peshawar have held the successive military regimes responsible for present political polarization and failure of democratic order in the country.

Speaking at Face to Face: Citizens and Candidates, a programme organized by the provincial chapter of the Pakistan Liberal Forum here at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, said that the army had developed a habit of staging coup in Pakistan.

A former interior minister and PPP candidate for NA-5 and NA-6 Nowshera, Maj Gen Naseerullah Khan Babar, Jamaat-i-Islam leader and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal nominee for NA-1, Peshawar, I, Shabir Ahmed Khan, PPP nominees for women reserved seats Shazia Tehmas Khan and Meraj Humayun and ANP-PPP joint candidates Haji Mohammad Adeel for PF-6, and Syed Ayub Shah for PF-1, Peshawar, responded to the questions posed by the audience.

Mr Babar said except King’s splinter groups, all the major political parties were struggling against the military rule. They along with the other elected members would elect new president and send Gen Musharraf back home, he added.

He said his party had developed good relations between Pakistan and the Muslim world by holding Islamic summit at Lahore and his leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto urged the Arab leaders to use oil as weapon against the pro-Israel western countries.

After bringing the prisoners of war (POWs) from India, the then PPP government outlined an independent foreign policy, reflecting the national interests, but the US got Mr Bhutto removed from power, he added.

He said religious parties strengthened hands of Gen Ziaul Haq which resulted into the depoliticization of society. The very same religious parties were vying with the democratic forces today, he added.

He said the PPP, which had initiated major development schemes in the country, provided employment to thousands of people and restored poor man’s dignity, would implement its manifesto in letter and spirit.

He said his party had groomed and trained Burhanuddin Rabbani, Gulbadin Hikmatyar and others to save Pakistan’s interests in the area, later helped Taliban in making government. “We were about to install a nation government comprising Taliban, Northern Alliance and others, but Farooq Leghari dissolved our government”, he added.

Shabir Ahmed said only religious parties could provide an honest, capable and patriotic leadership to the country. “We will turn Pakistan into home of Muslim Ummah and put our all resources for the betterment of Ummah”, he added.

He said MMA would use its all resources, including nuclear and military capabilities, for the defence of Islamic world. “We have defended Afghanistan, defeated former Soviet Union. In the future the same religious parties will defeat the USA”, he claimed.

Haji Adeel said his party had been struggling for the rights of Pakhtoons since British Raj. “We are opposed to domination of one province. We want provincial autonomy for the development of the province and prosperity of our people”, he added.

The ANP, he said, was opposed to concurrent list and it wanted its removal forthwith. The centre should be vested with only four subjects, defence, foreign affairs, currency and communication, he added.

He held religious parties responsible for the sectarianism and social strife and said his party would keep its secular identity with the support of people.

He accused the military regime for derailing democratic process in the country.

He said the PPP and the ANP were both secular and liberal forces and their electoral alliance would remain intact in the parliament.