KARACHI, April 6: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has said that the regime was spreading deliberate rumours of a ‘deal’ with the party in an attempt to divert attention of the masses from the prevailing judicial crisis in the country and growing differences within the ruling party.
Denying having made any deal, Punjab and Sindh PPP Presidents Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Qaim Ali Shah and the party’s Central Information Secretary Sherry Rehman reiterated their demand of setting up of an interim government of national consensus to hold free, fair and transparent elections in the country, as it was the only way to strengthen the federation.
Speaking at a press conference here at the residence of Qaim Ali Shah on Friday, the PPP leaders demanded General Pervez Musharraf immediately reinstate Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as Chief Justice of Pakistan and withdraw the reference against him to save the sanctity of the judiciary.
The leaders termed rumours of a deal a conspiracy hatched by the government to divide the real opposition parties.
Regarding closure of a special cell of the National Accountability Bureau, the leaders said this office has not been able to achieve any results and the regime has realised it is better to close it down than to pursue false and fabricated cases that have yielded nothing in 10 years.
Mr Qureshi criticised Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvaiz Ellahi and observed that there was no rule of law in the province as well as in the country.
Ms Rehman expressed doubts on the intention of the government and said that on the one hand the government was conducting military operation in Balochistan but surprisingly, on the other hand, it failed to take any action in Islamabad where 4,000 seminary students are openly challenging the writ of the state.
She observed that it was the responsibility of the state to protect the sanctity of citizens, and the state should tackle the issue within the ambit of law.
She termed the house arrest of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed a drama and expressed surprise as to how the government allowed the religious alliance to stage a sit-in on the day of hearing of reference against the CJP in front of the Supreme Court.
To a question regarding the party’s back channel talks with the regime, the PPP leaders maintained that it was an old demand that the regime should hold free, fair and transparent elections and to provide a level playing field to the genuine and popular leadership of the masses.
Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that the participation of a large number of people to observe the death anniversary of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had proved the government had failed to marginalise the mainstream party.
The PPP leaders also demanded immediate release of all political prisoners, including Makhdoom Javed Hashmi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
PPP Provincial Information Secretary Dr Fahmida Mirza, former Sindh Governor Kamal Azfar, Taj Haider, Nisar Khuhro and other leaders were also present.
