LAHORE, June 28: The Pakistan People’s Party has said that it will not replace Benazir Bhutto as its chairperson even if talks with the establishment bear no fruit and the party does not get power after the general elections.

PPP leaders Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Jehangir Badr told journalists at a ceremony held here on Tuesday to celebrate the 52nd birthday of Ms Bhutto and said that she alone could lead the party and those wanting to get her dumped would not succeed.

Mr Fahim said that while doors for talks would remain open, there would be no compromise on principles.

He alleged that the government had begun taking measures to rig the local council elections. “Free and fair elections are not possible under the present government,” he said, adding that either the government should ‘set its direction right’ or pave way for a set-up which could come up to people’s expectations.

He said that a number of PPP leaders had been arrested and Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Rahim was gerrymandering the Sindh districts which were the stronghold of the party.

Dr Rahim, he alleged, was threatening the voters that if his candidates did not win in the local elections, he would dismantle the newly created tehsils.

The PPP leader said that the measures amounted to pre-poll rigging.

He said that President Pervez Musharraf had impaired his impartiality by inviting the estranged ruling party leaders to the presidency in a bid to sort out differences among them.

Mr Fahim said he would remind Gen Musharraf that a president is for “the entire country, not a particular party, and by siding with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, he has proved beyond doubt that he was partisan”.

When asked about the ARD’s anti-government campaign given up over the past several months, Mr Fahim said that such an activity was not possible at a time when temperatures across the country were so high. A campaign in such weather would mean leaving the agitators to faint, he argued.

He indicated that the movement would be resumed once the mercury came down.