KARACHI, Nov 11: PPP chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto will appear before a Swiss inquiry magistrate on November 24 and 25 to assist in the inquiry triggered by the “politically motivated allegations from the regime in Islamabad of abuse of office,” according to a spokesman for the PPP’s media cell at Bilawal House.

He said on Friday that Ms Bhutto had last appeared before the magistrate on September 19. Assisted by a Swiss defence lawyer, Ms Bhutto had informed the magistrate that the Swiss companies allegedly involved in money-laundering did not belong to her. She had also stated that the pre-shipment inspection contract had been awarded to SGS in a transparent and open manner and there had been no underhand dealing involved in awarding the contract.

“The military-led regime in Pakistan has been pushing this investigation only to put pressure on Ms Bhutto to quit politics,” alleged the spokesman, claiming: “They (rulers) have spent enormous sums of money on the matter and have not stopped despite the earthquake in Pakistan. Ms Bhutto has been refusing to be blackmailed over the last nine years.”

She was fighting with the country’s military dictatorship, which had broken and bent every rule in the book and resorted to enact back-dated laws against her, he added.

He said the military dictatorship was against women as was manifested in the callous remarks by General Musharraf in Washington that women in Pakistan got themselves raped to make money or get foreign visas.

Ms Bhutto had said she would contest the charges rather than giving in to the general’s demand to quit politics and stay away from the next elections, he said.

The spokesman pointed out that none of the allegations levelled against her in Pakistan had been proved as they were all false. Therefore, it was surprising that the Geneva authorities had allowed the investigations to go ahead without proof of the alleged abuse of office by Ms Bhutto. It may also be noted that the SGS company had charges of corruption dropped against it and was no longer being investigated in Pakistan or Switzerland, the spokesman said.