ISLAMABAD, Oct 29: Prof Khurshid Ahmed, deputy chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, has said that Oct 10 elections have paved the way for the restoration of the democratic institutions in the country and delay in calling national and provincial assemblies was causing serious concern.

In a press statement issued here on Tuesday, he said political adjustments and alignments were part of the political process and they will take their natural course once the assemblies were called to session.

He feared that the way ordinances were being “bombarded on the country” was alarming, adding that the regime “seems to be in a panic” and “is trying to resort to uncalled-for legislation to make things convenient to their favourites.”

He said this was a rebuke to the people and an attempt to frustrate their verdict.

He advised that the regime and all the political forces should accept the results as they were and implement them in letter and spirit.

Another very disturbing trend emerges from an effort to impose on the new setup certain policies and the ministers who represented the regime and its policies, he said.

It is very clear that the overwhelming majority of the people — almost 75 per cent — have rejected Gen Pervez Musharraf’s economic and foreign policies, he added.

The plea for “continuity” is an affront to the verdict of the people. It is now only for the parliament to formulate new economic policies in the best interest of the country, he said.

He warned that any effort to thrust upon the nation the World Bank and IMF’s strategy of so-called macro-stabilisation to the neglect of the real grass-roots problems and concerns for the people would be against the vital interests of Pakistan and a negation of people’s verdict.

He remarked that the latest SBP report, despite all the gloss it has tried to put on the real economic situation, clearly shows the rate of growth has been at the low ebb, production in agriculture and manufacturing has faltered, and national savings and investment rates have dropped to an alarmingly low level.