HYDERABAD: PPP leader sceptical about free elections
By Our Correspondent
HYDERABAD, Oct 29: Member of the Sindh council of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Mohammad Usman Kennedy said on Monday that if the government did not suspend local body institutions before general elections then it would lead to the assumption that it was not interested in holding polls in a free and fair manner.
Mr Kennedy said at a news conference at the press club that the elections must not be postponed notwithstanding the fact that country was in the grip of lawlessness and insurgency in Balochistan and tribal belt. No power on earth could prevent Benazir Bhutto from becoming prime minister for the third time, he believed.
He criticised the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal for playing a vital role in getting the 17th constitutional amendment passed and deliberately delaying the dissolution of NWFP assembly to help Gen Pervez Musharraf get re-elected.
He claimed that the MMA leaders were also to blame for the incidents that started taking place and increased in number after 9/11 in Swat, Balochistan, Karachi and North and South Waziristan.
The historic reception accorded to Ms. Benazir Bhutto in Karachi Oct 18 in which people’s turnout stood at 3 to 3.5 million had baffled the rulers, he claimed. But when Benazir Bhutto started travelling in Punjab then her critics would find no place to hide, he added.
He dismissed Pervez Musharraf-Benazir Bhutto power sharing deal as charges and said Nawaz Sharif had gone to Saudi Arabia under a certain arrangement. If it was not a deal then why he did not attempt to return during last seven years, he said.
Benazir neither voted for uniform nor did she accept uniform while MMA which was also part of APDM stabbed democracy in the back and promoted dictatorship, he said.
