February 13, 2008	Wednesday	Safar 05, 1429

LAHORE, Feb 12: PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari discussed anti-rigging measures with the detained Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan at his Zaman Park residence in a visit kept from media till the eleventh hour here on Tuesday.

Though Zardari did not brief the press - which rushed to the spot as soon as news of the meeting became public - Mrs Bushra Aitzaz confirmed the two leaders had exchanged views on what she called government’s rigging plan. She added Mr Zardari was convinced that the government had finalised measures to manipulate the election “but still the party could do something about the election day.”

Describing the meeting as a “condolence meeting” because Aitzaz could not meet Zardari to express his grief over the former premier Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, Bushra said both the men shared views on her murder. Mr Ahsan, who was taken into custody after the imposition of emergency, had been under detention.

She dispelled the impression about any friction between Mr Zardari and Mr Ahsan in the backdrop of reports that the party had wanted a greater role for the detained SCBA leader. “You see the PPP is a family, which doesn’t break. And to talk about changing any roles for anybody at a time when the party is going to the polls with all its vigour is not understandable,” she said.

She also replied in negative when asked about any discussion on the prime ministerial candidate of the party. She said Mr Zardari was convinced that the party was going to win with an overwhelming majority despite all efforts to rig the election.

“If you judge the situation by the gallop surveys, you could very well understand that even the anti-Musharraf vote is going to either the PPP or the PML(N),” she said.

She said Mr Zardari knew about Ahsan’s stand on the independence of judiciary and “there was a little talk on the subject.” To a question regarding permission to Zardari to see Mr Ahsan, she said that the officer concerned and the police deployed outside the residence checked Zardari in the first instance but later on, he was allowed to go in and see the detained SCBA leader.