FAISALABAD, May 21: The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) warned the government on Wednesday that it would invite public anger, if it tried to remove the country’s democratic set-up for vested interests.

Talking to newsmen, Punjab Assembly deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah Khan, MNA Rana Asif Tauseef, MPA Malik Nawaz and former parliamentarians alleged that the military government had violated all norms of justice by eliminating democracy. “Now the prime minister is playing in the hands of his army boss at the cost of parliament’s honour,” they added.

They said a rift between the armed forces and the general public was a conspiracy, which was a bane of the current governance. It was also creating law and order problems in the country, they believed.

They urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf to quit one of his offices in the country’s interest.

The opposition members also said PML-N President Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s plan to return did not indicate any deal with the government.

“Lawlessness, frequent raise in prices and unemployment expose the government’s tall claims,” the PML-N leaders said. They added that politicians belonging to the opposition parties were being disgraced by the law-enforcement agencies, including the National Accountability Bureau, by registering fake cases against them.

They announced that they would continue their struggle for the restoration of democracy.

SERVICE BOOK: Punjab Accountant-General Wazir Ahmad Qureshi said on Wednesday the service book of the government employees would be made an up-to-date document, and it would be considered pension papers.

Speaking to the participants at a meeting of Drawing and Disbursing Officers of different government departments, he stressed that these officers should shoulder more responsibilities to ensure better budget utilization.

He said a one-day workshop would be held in the first week of July to train the DDOs on financial matters. An easy-to-use booklet containing important financial and audit rules would also be distributed among the DDOs, he added.

He said in future the salaries of the government employees from BPS 1 to BPS 15 would be paid through their personal bank accounts. On receiving complaints about delay in disbursement of salaries to some government servants, the AG abolished the system of issuing a consolidation cheque in the name of respective controlling officers.

He said the pension case of any government employee could not be deferred on the basis of audit paras, urging the departments to try to get such audit paras settled during the service of the employees to avoid delay in settlement of pension claims.

Mr Qureshi claimed that the Punjab was the only province where 97 per cent accounts of the government departments had been reconciled.