LAHORE, Feb 10: Opposition leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rahman has alleged that various institutions of the armed forces were dictating provincial governments.

He was talking to a group of reporters after a meeting of the Punjab general council of his faction of the JUI here on Thursday. Secretary-general Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri was also present.

Maulana Fazl said letters were being directly written to civil departments to do this and that, while attempts were being made to occupy various pieces of land.

Fazl's party is ruling the NWFP while it is sharing power with the PML in Balochistan. He said no-one should trust Gen Musharraf as he had deceived Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto as well as the MMA.

He said army rulers used to play with politicians and use them for prolonging their rule. "See what happened with the MMA. Gen Musharraf backed out after holding serious talks with it."

Urging all the opposition parties to unite on a minimum agenda against the army ruler, he said the ARD should not attach any conditions to cooperation with the MMA because of the 17th Amendment.

Otherwise, he said, the religious alliance too could ask that the PPP should oppose (US president) Bush and support Jihad and that all amendments done by the late Z. A. Bhutto and Nawaz regimes should also be abolished.

He said political parties should not create problems for each other and should instead help in the struggle for restoration of democracy.

He hoped that both the alliances would devise a joint strategy after meetings of their senior leaders on Feb 14 and 15.

Replying to a question, he said the late Bhutto was a constitutional prime minister in every respect but when masses rose against him, he had to go. Similarly, Gen Musharraf would have to go whether he was a constitutional or unconstitutional president, he added.

He said Gen Musharraf had weakened Pakistan's position during talks with India by giving various options on Kashmir, which also damaged Islamabad's case on Baglihar dam.

On Kalabagh dam issue, he said the government should avoid taking controversial decisions. Construction of Bhasha dam should be undertaken as it was not a controversial project.