June 23, 2003	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 22,1424

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PESHAWAR,  June 22: The provincial chief of Pakistan  People’s Party, Khwaja Mohammad Khan Hoti, has vowed that his party  will continue struggle against adventurists who had damaged every institution to prolong their stay in power, in every walk of life.

Speaking  at a ceremony organised by the PPP to celebrate  the 50th  birthday of party chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto  here at a local hotel on Saturday, Mr Hoti held the judiciary  equally responsible for the unending constitutional and political  crises faced by the country.

He claimed that generals had never allowed politicians to run the country smoothly and hatched conspiracies to  dislodge them on petty and non-issues. The generals, he said, had disrupted the democratic process and caused great losses to the  democratic process in the country.

He said the military had ruled the country for 35 years while the politicians had ruled for 21 years. The generals had always tried to belittle political leadership on charges of corruption, he added.

Mr Hoti claimed that Ayub Khan was the pioneer of corruption and  misrule in Pakistan. The idea of basic democracy floated  by Gen Ayub paved the way for de-politicization and  corruption in the country.

He said Gen Zia destroyed each and every institution  and introduced  a regimental rule in the country to give an  end to political culture. Gen Zia and his aides hanged Zulfikar  Ali Bhutto  to advance their agenda, but they faced another  ZAB in the face of Ms Benazir.

Qazi Mohammad Anwar of the Awami National Party also spoke  on the democratic struggle in Pakistan. He recalled his days in  the PPP fold under he leadership of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Barrister  Masood Kausar vowed that the PPP would  oppose  the Legal  Framework Order (LFO) at all forums, as it was  a  blatant attack on the Constitution.

Later, the PPP leaders and workers cut a cake to celebrate the birth anniversary of Ms Bhutto.

Our Kohat Correspondent adds: The People’s Party Parliamentarians on Sunday urged the government to allow former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to return besides calling for more flexibility in talks to break the deadlock on the issue of the Legal Framework Order.

This was stated by PPP Kohat president Nadir Khan Khattak on the occasion of the 50th birthday of party’s chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

Expressing confidence in the leadership of Benazir Bhutto, he said, she was capable of steering the country out of the current constitutional crisis.

Stressing the need for dropping what he termed false corruption charges against both Benazir Bhutto and Senator Asif Zardari, he said these cases were an attempt to keep the country’s major political party out of politics.

He also called for dropping of cases against all political workers, adding that activists implicated in false cases should also be released.

Criticizing the government, he said that the government of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was playing the role of a puppet, adding that it was impeding the way of restoration of real democracy.

Earlier, a large number of PPP workers participated in a function held to mark the 50th birthday of Ms Benazir Bhutto.