KARACHI: Lt-Gen Mohammad Azam Khan, an independent Opposition leader, yesterday [Dec 18] appealed for combination of all the “democratic forces” to launch a “mass movement” for the “achievement of the common goal” of restoration of democracy and “change for the better”. Gen Azam, who reached Karachi earlier in the day on a mass contact tour, was addressing a Press Conference at Hotel Intercontinental.

He said he believed that a big majority of the people of Pakistan was not prepared to join any political party although they, too, felt very strongly against the present Government. The present movement, he said, was not confined to the Opposition parties but was being carried on by independent democratic forces. He stressed that he considered himself to be one of this “vast majority”.

He said, the two tasks before the nation were “our struggle for our political freedom” and the realisation of the “true concept and ideology of Pakistan”. “The people alone have the right to choose their leaders, the type of constitution and the mode of Government they find most suitable,” Gen Azam said. ... [He] predicted: “The day is near when the forces of injustice must crumble down before the voice of truth and righteousness and justice.” — Correspondent

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2018