ISLAMABAD, Jan 2 A group of supporters of former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf launched a platform on Saturday to provide him an opportunity to give a “befitting reply” to his critics.

The speakers at a seminar on “Future of Pakistan's politics”, organised by a newly-formed group 'Pasdar-i-Pakistan' (defenders of Pakistan) at a local hotel, announced that they would defend policies and acts of the former president with “full force”.

Former spokesman for the president, Maj-Gen (retd) Rashid Qureshi, former federal minister Sher Afgan, Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif and Advocate Fawwad Chaudhry are prominent members of the new group.

A flag of the organisation was also launched on the occasion.

Although Mr Qureshi denied having formed a political party, observers believed that the group had been launched to gauge public reaction against the former military ruler and pave the way for him to enter politics.

Mr Qureshi rejected the allegations that Jamhoori Watan Party chief Nawab Akbar Bugti had been killed on the orders of Gen (retd) Musharraf.

Declaring the former president as 'innocent', he urged the Inter-Service Public Relations to tell the nation the true story behind Mr Bugti's murder. He claimed that Mr Bugti was living in a cave surrounded by landmines. Three army officers, he added, had gone to the cave to hold talks with the Baloch leader when all of a sudden landmines exploded and the cave collapsed. The officers had also died, along with Mr Bugti, he added.

Mr Qureshi, however, said he did not know whether the landmines exploded accidentally or were detonated by Mr Bugti. He was of the view that instead of registering a murder case against Mr Musharraf, a case should be registered against Akbar Bugti for killing the “three unarmed officers”.

Mr Qureshi also denied that thousands of people, including women and children, were killed during the Lal Masjid operation. “Their graves are still here. If someone has doubts he can go and count the bodies,” he said, adding that 94 people had died in the operation.

Sher Afgan lashed out at the PPP and the PML-N, terming the two parties “non-democratic”. He said that Gen Musharraf would soon return home.

At one point, journalists decided to boycott the seminar after one of the speakers warned the media against criticising the policies of Gen Musharraf.

“We will pull out the tongues of those, including the media, who will criticise Musharraf,” said the speaker.

The journalists ended the boycott after Barrister Saif apologised to them.