KARACHI, Nov 30: A top leader of the Pakistan People’s Party on Friday said that the interim set-up in the country was the continuation of the previous government and its actions of targeting opposition parties were no better than those of its predecessor.
“The PPP could contemplate the option of boycotting the general election, if the rulers did not end their tactics to push the party to the wall,” Mian Raza Rabbani, leader of the Opposition in the Senate, said at a programme held at the People’s Secretariat here.
Mr Rabbani, also deputy secretary-general of the PPP, was the chief guest at the programme to celebrate the 40th foundation day of the party.
He said that the PPP had been struggling against dictatorial regimes since its inception 40 years ago as it never bowed before the dictatorial regimes of Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf.
Mr Rabbani said that the PPP wanted free and fair elections so that a powerful and independent parliament could come into being.
“If we succeed in putting in place an independent parliament then it would also ensure an independent judiciary in the country,” he said.
He said that the PPP was also striving for the restoration of the Constitution, lifting of curbs on the media and the judiciary and release of all the arrested political workers, lawyers and people belonging to other segments of the civil society.
He expressed his distrust in the present interim governments and said fair and transparent elections were not possible with such a set-up in place. He called for the establishment of an independent and powerful election commission and reconstitution of the interim governments so that they could be comprised of impartial individuals.
The PPP leader said that the previous federal and provincial ministers were still enjoying powers and protocol and were using it to influence the forthcoming general elections.
According to Mr Rabbani, the ‘biased’ caretaker governments were making administrative changes on political grounds, which clearly showed that the elections were not going to be a transparent affair.
