November 29, 2002	Friday	Ramazan 23, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: Jailed PPP leader Asif Zardari on Thursday said that the President Gen Pervez Musharraf would soon be packing up as the government would not last long.

“I can not give you the exact time when he is going to leave whether in six weeks or six months, but this is for sure that he has no future,” said Mr Zardari while talking to reporters here on the premises of the accountability court where he went to appear in the ARY Gold reference.

When asked to elaborate, he simply said that no general had ever gone peacefully, adding that Gen Musharraf himself had emptied his oxygen tank because he had established contacts with undemocratic forces to implement his designs.

All the political forces including the Pakistan People’s Party were demanding fresh elections without any establishment’s interference, he said, adding that the present government had blatantly indulged itself in pre-poll and post-poll rigging and floor crossing.

A leadership which emerge through an impartial, free and fair elections could have the strength to steer the country out of the present international situation hovering at Pakistan especially after the incidents of 9/11, he said.

He said that all the elections after 1970 were held by anti- Bhutto forces, but even then the PPP managed to secure large number of seats and formed governments.

In case fair and free elections were held, all the parties created by the established having little significance would be completely wiped out because there existed only one political force, which was the PPP, he claimed.

“The PPP is always ready to sit on the opposition benches provided the elections are held without any interference,” he said.

When asked whether the security of the country was in danger, he said that there was no threat to the country but the present government was in danger.

About the situation in Sindh, where the MQM had decided to withdraw its support, he said that it seemed that the assurances and promises made with them were not being honoured. They should be given their due share for they had a significant vote bank in the province, he suggested.

“This is the first shock to the present government. Such kind of shocks will keep on coming as the Jamali-led government was very fragile,” Mr Zardari commented.