LAHORE, Dec 18: Announcing his earlier jump into the troubled political waters, former army ruler Pervez Musharraf warned on Sunday that ‘undemocratic’ initiatives or involvement of the armed forces in active politics would fail to solve the problems the country was facing.

In his 32-minute long address, through video conferencing from London, to a public meeting of the All-Pakistan Muslim League here, he said the country’s conditions were serious and in need of a change.

He announced his changed plan of making his comeback next month (January) instead of March.It was the first reasonable show of the party he had formed a year ago. The APML earlier took out a rally from Liberty Market up to Nasser Bagh, the venue for the public meeting. The police averted a possible clash when activists of some religious parties passing by the venue raised anti-Musharraf slogans.

“The solution to the country’s prevailing challenges does not lie in undemocratic initiatives or engaging military into politics,” said Musharraf who ruled the country for over seven years while donning army uniform.

He is living in exile in London since abdicating charge as head of the state in August 2008.

“The policies will prove fatal for the country as well as people of the country.”

Talking about the militancy in tribal areas that had taken roots during his regime, he said he would initiate dialogue with the extremist elements operating inside the country.

All praise for the army and ISI, he said these were guarantors of Pakistan’s solidarity and sovereignty, and added that some elements were hatching conspiracies through the ‘memo case’ to defame the ISI and security forces.

“The enemies know that they can weaken Pakistan only through weakening the army and the ISI and it is unfortunate that some Pakistanis are, knowingly or unknowingly, doing the dirty work of the foreign powers to damage the image of the two institutions.”

Referring to the Nov 26 Nato attack, he said it was a dangerous omen and urged the people to observe restraint instead of handling the issue emotionally.

Commenting on the performance of the PPP and PML-N, the APML chief said the two parties remained in power twice but delivered nothing to the masses except challenges and shortfalls.

He regretted that the state institutions were in a state of constant confrontation while the president was out of the country under mysterious circumstances, as no one knew whether Mr Zardari was suffering from some physical, mental or political illness.

He urged the people to rise above caste, creed, linguistic, religious and provincial prejudices while casting their votes to steer the country out of the crisis.

Endorsing the demand of Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan, he said politicians should submit details of their assets and promised to submit his on his return home.

APML Secretary-General Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Punjab chapter chief Zahid Sarfraz, Ahmed Raza Kasuri and Fawad Chaudhry also spoke.