October 23, 2006	Monday	Ramazan 29, 1427

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LAHORE, Oct 22: People have no interest whether the present assemblies complete their tenure or not as they have been reduced to mere rubber stamp, PPP Senior vice-chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani says.

At a news conference after a meeting of the Punjab PPP executive committee here on Sunday, he said only “vested interests” wanted the assemblies to last for five years.

He alleged that the assemblies had no role in the decision-making process and thus they were worthless entities.

Provincial president Qasim Zia presided over the meeting which was attended among others by Secretary-General Jehangir Badr, Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas, Farzana Raja, MNA Chaudhry Manzoor, Munir Ahmed Khan, Naveed Chaudhry, Haji Azizur Rehman Chan, Zakariya Butt, Anwaar Alvi, Iqbal Mehmud Awan, Faiza Malik, Azma Zahid Bukhari, Matloob Waraich and Iqbal Sialvi.

Answering a question, Mr Gilani said there was no difference between a grand alliance or combined opposition and their purpose was to launch a movement against the government.

He claimed that Ms Bhutto was not in contact with the government. He said Gen Musharraf was saying it again and again that he would not let former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif return to Pakistan. This, he argued, clearly meant that no deal between the PPP and the government was possible.

The PPP leader said Ms Bhutto was a citizen of Pakistan and needed no permission from anyone to come back. “She is ready to face cases”.

Farzana Raja demanded that old voter lists should be updated for new elections instead of preparing new lists. She alleged that in the new lists the number of voters had been reduced by one-third which was a clear case of pre-poll rigging.

She said Benazir-Nawaz meeting had foiled the establishment’s agenda.

The PPP leader said her party would return to power as a result of fresh elections.

Ms Farzana demanded the reinstatement of all 1,900 workers who lost jobs because of the process of privatization.

She said the PPP was aware of workers problems and would continue to raise them from all platforms.

The executive committee appreciated the services of Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani.