29 July 2004	Thursday	11 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

ISLAMABAD, July 28: Vice-chairman Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and former National Assembly speaker Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said the PPP is the government-in-waiting and playing the role of real opposition in the country.

He was speaking as chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of the party's central information bureau, headed by MPA Farzana Raja, here on Wednesday. Mr Gillani lauded the role of the media and lawyers in the ongoing struggle for restoration of true democracy in the country.

He said party chairperson Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari had to face media trials several times. He said Mr Zardari had been facing hardships in jail for the past eight years due to his commitment to the cause of democracy.

He also criticized the role of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and said it had been used to force the opposition members to change their loyalties. He said few opportunists had left the party due to NAB pressure but a majority of the committed and dedicated workers and leaders were still struggling for the restoration of real democracy.

He said the people did not like a democracy in which prime minister, chief ministers and speakers were nominated by a person sitting in the Aiwan-i-Sadr. Later, through a resolution, read by Raja Pervez Ashraf, the PPP leaders demanded that "false and fabricated cases" against Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari be withdrawn.

They demanded that the media trial of the PPP leadership be ended and all political prisoners, including Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Asif Zardari and Pir Mukarram Shah, be released.

Earlier, the party's parliamentary leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani said the importance of media had increased in the military rule. He also alleged that the government had prepared a plan to rig the by-elections in Attock and Tharparkar.

He said despite the fact that state resources were being used in the election campaign of Shaukat Aziz, the ARD would give a tough time to the government on August 18.