KARACHI, Feb 11: PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari has expressed grief over the state atrocities on his party’s workers, and anguish at the alleged rigging by the government and its allied parties in the February 10 by-election in Sindh.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, Mr Zardari, ex-premier Benazir Bhutto’s spouse who is currently undergoing treatment in US, described the violence and harassment allegedly meted out to PPP workers, including women activists, as “a practice contrary to the democratic norms as well as traditions of Sindh.”

He condemned that women political activists, including his sister, Dr Azra, were subjected to armed attacks by terrorists who, he claimed, had the backing of a provincial minister and his personal guards. He recalled that Dr Azra and her driver had escaped unhurt in a similar attack.

Mr Zardari strongly criticised the rulers for patronising such shameful acts, and observed that they could not deter PPP and its workers from their struggle for democracy through such tactics.

The struggle for the restoration of people’s basic rights, he added, would continue and succeed.

He warned the rulers that they would have to pay in the same coin if they did not refrain from intimidating PPP women.