11 October 2004	Monday	25 Shaban 1425

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PESHAWAR, Oct 10: The Zardari Rihaai Committee has demanded an unconditional and immediate release of Asif Ali Zardari, who has remained incarcerated in different jails since the dismissal of the second Pakistan People's Party government in 1996.

Speaking at a news conference here at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, ZRC chief Behramand Khan Tangai said the prolonged and 'unlawful' detention of Mr Zardari was a glaring example of an unjust rule in the country.

The successive regimes had failed to prove even a single case, registered with political motives, against Mr Zardari, he said. He condemned the registration of what he called a 'bogus case' against Dr Babar Awan, a lawyer of Mr Zardari, in Rawalpindi and described it as another indirect pressure on the PPP leader.

Earlier, the government had punished Yousuf Raza Gilani for his efforts to secure Mr Zardari's release, he alleged. Mr Gilani had "committed a sin of providing jobs" to jobless youth of his constituency. This was a rare case in which prosecution had levelled charges for providing jobs to people, he said.

He said the government was serving the interests of imperialism and was about to collapse as it had failed to stem the rising tide of sectarian violence in the country.

He said terrorists were free to play havoc with the lives of innocent people, but the genuine political leadership was either detained or had been forced to stay abroad.

He said it was the victory of justice and innocence that all those who had dubbed Mr Zardari Mr 10 per cent were writing about his steadfastness and courage. The ZRC has organised public meetings, seminars, hunger strike camps and a train march for the release of Mr Zardari, but the government remained unmoved to this peaceful campaign.

He said the ZRC had decided to organize a seminar for the release of Mr Zardari on Thursday (Oct 14) at a local hotel in Peshawar. PPP central leaders Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Jehangir Badar, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Rahimdad Khan, Aitizaz Ahsan, Barrister Sultan Mehmood from Azad Kashmir, Sardar Ali Khan and others would speak at the seminar.

He said the PPP was a popular political force which had opposed the undemocratic and unconstitutional measures by military dictators and it would not hesitate in resisting the current autocratic rule as well.