LAHORE, July 1: The PPP alleged on Tuesday that Gen Pervez Musharraf had bartered the country’s interests and compromised on principled stand on various issues during his visit to the United States.

Convening a meeting at the residence of Khalid Ahmad Kharal, the party activists claimed that negligible economic assistance promised to Pakistan had several strings attached to it.

Munir Ahmad Khan said at a briefing after the meeting that Gen Musharraf had made a departure from the country’s principled stand on Kashmir, given the US a commitment to recognize Israel, roll back Pakistan’s nuclear programme and sent 10,000 troops to Iraq, reducing their role to that of mercenaries.

Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan, Raja Riaz, Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Altaf Qureshi, Kazim Khan and Tahir Khaleeq were among the participants.

The participants were of the view that the president’s visit to the US was a failure, as he could not get adequate economic assistance in return for the cooperation he had extended in war against terror. They regretted that Gen Musharraf had failed to get F-16s for the country.

About the disqualification of an MMA MNA on the ground that his sanad was not equivalent to a graduation degree, the PPP leaders said it was a case of blackmailing.