December 12, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 17, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: The secretary-general of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) MNA, Raja Pervez Ashraf, has condemned the policy of divide and rule and double standards of the regime.

In a statement here on Thursday, the PPP MNA said the present policy had been adopted to damage and dismember the ARD parties.

Mr Ashraf was reacting to the press reports that the ARD would be denied the position of the opposition leader in parliament.

He recalled that the PPP had enough members on election day in October 2002 to form the government with the support of its allies. However, the regime, through using DG Rangers Punjab broke the PPP through crude methods. He said despite breaking the party, over 80 members of the National Assembly belonging to the opposition, had submitted a signed statement to the speaker that they endorsed the ARD leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim as the opposition leader.

Mr Ashraf said the double standards in treatment between the MMA, the King’s Party and the ARD were deliberate attempts to stifle democratic and moderate forces to set the stage for the Talibanisation of Pakistan. He said the regime wanted to tell the West that the choice in Pakistan was between the military and the religious parties in a bid to continue with its rule.

He said while the PPP members were targeted to be being broken, the regime allowed people with fake degrees to continue as parliamentarians if they were in the King’s Party, which was created by the military establishment.