LARKANA, Jan 6: The Pakistan People’s Party on Sunday condemned the registration of 2,500 criminal cases against 250,000 party workers and termed it pre-poll rigging.

This was the consensus of party leaders as the provincial chapter of the Sindh Council of the PPP met in Naudero on Sunday for the first time after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, president of the PPP Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah urged the caretaker government to maintain neutrality and said that PPP workers were not involved in recent riots.

Alleging the involvement of opponents of the PPP in the violence ensuing Ms Bhutto’s assassination, he said that the rulers had implicated PPP workers in false cases according to a well-thought out plan.

He said as polls drew closer, the government would detain all PPP activists, making it difficult for the party to find polling agents on the day of the election.

Condemning registration of FIRs against party’s office-bearers and candidates, he said that complainants were mostly affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Q and the Muthida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

Labelling the investigations into MS Bhutto’s murder unilateral and rejecting the Scotland Yard’s probe into the incident, he said that the Sindh Council “endorsed decisions of the party’s central executive committee in which the UN had been asked to initiate investigations”. The council also “stood by the CEC’s decision to install Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Asif Zardari as chairman and co-chairman of PPP, respectively”, he said.