KARACHI, Jan 30: Pakistan People’s Party cadre on Monday staged protest rallies and sit-ins in various district headquarters of the city to register their anger over, what they termed, ‘media trial’ of Ms Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Zardari.

Addressing a rally at Hassan Square, PPP information secretary Taj Haider claimed that Ms Bhutto would return home like a revolutionary leader and the conspiracy to implicate her, Asif Zardari and other party leaders in false cases would fizzle out.

He said that all attempts by the regime to continue with the policy of retrenchment and privatization would be frustrated and the rulers would have to pay for causing dearness and unemployment, as well as taking measures to usurp the rights of provinces and denying them autonomy.

He said that all attempts by the regime to impose the Kalabagh dam project would be resisted, and the government would be forced by masses to stop military operation in Balochistan.

Pir Mazharul Haq, a former minister and deputy parliamentary leader, said that the regime would not succeed in deterring the PPP cadre which had gone through the excesses of dictator Ziaul Haq in the past.

He said the people of Sindh and other provinces were determined to dislodge the usurpers and their leaders would not be cowed down by false case and strong arm tactics.

Also present on the occasion were Nafees Siddiqui, Ameer Haider Kazmi, Waqar Mehdi, Asghar Bihari and Saeed Chawla.

Waqar Mehdi and Khalil Qureshi deplored the moves by NAB against PPP leaders, and resolved that the PPP could not be forced to give up its crusade for the restoration of democracy by such tactics.

Another big rally was held outside the Malir courts where PPP leaders and activists deplored the manipulation of the Interpol ‘red notice’ against their top leadership.

A former federal minister, N. D. Khan, said that NAB officials had usurped the powers of judiciary, adding that the Interpol was being misled through wrong information. He said that the whole world knew that Ms Bhutto had gone out with the permission of judiciary.

Mr Khan was of the view that the regime was resorting to such methods after realizing that Ms Bhutto might return this year to lead the party’s election campaign.

President of the PPP Karachi Rashid Rabbani alleged that the government was doing all this to diver people’s attention from its misdeeds. He said that the regime’s aim was to heighten tension and acrimony and for this, it had adopted divisive policies.

The situation at the rally grew tense when, according to PPP leaders, the police deployed there tried to force the protesters to change the venue of the rally from Dak Khana roundabout (Liaquatabad) to somewhere else.

The People’s Labour Bureau’s Habibuddin Junedi and Rahil Iqbal, and other leaders, including Syed Ijazuddin Shah and Farid Ansari, led a noisy protest for about two hours. The protesters chanted slogans against the regime and vowed to block the way of anyone who dared to cause any harm to Ms Bhutto.

The PPP leaders accused the regime of grabbing powers and comprising with opportunists and turncoats. They also described the regime as ‘anti-people, anti-democracy and an agent of foreign masters’ which, they claimed, had mortgaged the national sovereignty.

At the Habib Bank Chowrangi, the PPP protesters burnt the effigy of Gen Pervez Musharraf and staged a demonstration. Haji Muzaffar Shujra, a member of the PPP’s federal council, addressing the protesters, slammed the regime for invoking ‘false’ cases against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari, and unleashing a ‘media trial’ against them.

Afaq Khan Shahid, a former state minister, said the three years of the Musharraf regime spoke volumes about its failure in safeguarding national integrity and interests.

He alleged that the regime had also undermined national unity through its divisive policies aimed at prolonging its rule. However, he added, masses would not let the government succeed in his designs.