April 3, 2006	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 4, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 2: Pakistan Peoples Party has accused the government of attempting to split the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and persecuting its leadership. “The military regime is exploiting the war against terrorism to deny the people their political and economic rights”, the PPP spokesman in a statement here on Sunday said.

Rejecting an accountability court order seeking confiscation of property and assets of PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, the spokesman, Senator Farhatullah Babar, described it an attempt by the government to blackmail the party leadership to give up its struggle for democracy.

The accountability court in Rawalpindi on Friday last ordered to freeze all assets and bank accounts of Mr Zardari in Pakistan and abroad.

The court has already declared the PPP leader absconder and issued ‘red notice’ against him in a case filed by NAB charging Mr Zardari of accumulating assets and bank accounts beyond his known means of income “through corruption in collusive arrangement with his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and state functionaries during her tenure in government”.

The PPP spokesman said, “neither have denied owning legitimate assets or assets that are theirs. They have denied owning illegitimate assets or assets that are not theirs”, he added. The NAB has produced an inaccurate list of assets some of which are legitimate and owned but most of them are fabricated, Mr Babar said.

“After a decade-long witch-hunt during which it failed to prove corruption, the regime is forced to seek refuge behind the cloak of absenteeism. This retreat by the regime is a victory for the people as well as the PPP leadership”, the spokesman said.

Mr Zardari is receiving medical treatment in New York. He developed several ailments due to the inhuman treatment meted out to him in jail.

“The PPP rejects the latest attempts by the military dictatorship and reiterates that it would not be deterred by this blatant attempt to seize legitimate property to blackmail the party leadership into giving up the struggle for democracy.

However, NAB has not fooled anyone as is evident from the Human Rights Watch report and the US country report on human rights pertaining to Pakistan.

The spokesman accused the military rulers of using middle persons to send messages to the PPP leadership to negotiate with it in a bid to split the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD).