ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khurshid Ahmed Shah criticised former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf on Friday for his statement against PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Referring to a recent TV interview in which Gen Musharraf said Mr Zardari did not endure any hardship during the 11 years he spent in jail, Mr Shah said: “Fearing of having been sent to jail by the court, Musharraf demonstrated shameless cowardice by asking the driver to turn the vehicle towards a hospital in Rawalpindi feigning chest pain instead of coming to the court where his lawyers were waiting for him.”

The PPP leader said in a statement that Asif Zardari had spent 11 years in jail, including long periods in solitary confinement, without any conviction by a court. “He was tortured while in custody and his tongue slashed and he was dragged from court to court, city to city and jail to jail. Trial courts were especially set up in Attock Fort on the pretext of security so as to inflict torture on him,” he said.

When a high court convicted Mr Zardari, the Supreme Court intervened, declaring the bias of the trial judge floated on the surface of the record and remanded the case. For over a decade, Mr Zardari was stopped from living with family when his children were in the formative phase of their lives and needed the care of father. “If this is not torture in custody, what else is this,” Mr Shah wondered.

He said Gen Musharraf should try to be man enough to withstand even for half a day hardship and torture instead of ridiculing the torture Asif Zardari endured for over a decade.

“The PPP would welcome Musharraf under the shade of a mango tree planted by Mr Zardari in Lahore jail if he has the courage to endure jail even for half a day,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2015

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