ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Thursday condemned the Punjab government for demolishing the death cell of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Rawalpindi, which the party considered a memorial, and warned that PPP workers would launch a countrywide protest.

Speaking at a news conference with party spokesman Nazir Dhoki and Syed Wasif here, PPP Finance Secretary Dr Babar Awan alleged that the Punjab government had also stolen the personal belongings of late Mr Bhutto from the cell.

Mr Awan said the PPP workers and activists were very angry, but so far the party leadership had asked them to remain peaceful. He asked the government to return Mr Bhutto’s belongings and reconstruct the cell within a couple of days. Otherwise, the party would be forced to lodge a strong protest and take the matter to courts. He said the party would soon constitute a committee of lawyers in this regard.

The PPP leader also asked the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of the matter. He said the incident had hurt the sentiments of the PPP workers. He said two former judges, Justice Nasim Hassan Shah and Justice Javed Iqbal, had admitted that Mr Bhutto was judicially murdered.

Replying to a question, he said Interpol had not issued red warrants for Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari. He said Interpol had only issued notices which would be challenged by the party. He expressed the hope that Interpol would withdraw the notices after listening to the viewpoint of the PPP.

Mr Awan, however, condemned the government’s move of approaching Interpol “in a bid to malign Ms Bhutto’s reputation”. He said the rulers were taking these steps as they knew that they could not face Ms Bhutto politically. He said, actually, the rulers were afraid of Ms Bhutto’s plan to return to the country this year.

The PPP leader that there was a possibility that the government might try to disqualify Ms Bhutto in the next elections through any “kangaroo court” using the National Accountability Bureau. He made it clear that 2006 was the year of Ms Bhutto’s return to the country. He said she could also give a surprise to the nation in this regard.