ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto has no plans to contest the forthcoming Senate polls and the government’s recent move to approach the Interpol for arresting Ms Bhutto and Asif Zardari was a step to rig the general elections.

President of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Makhdoom Amin Fahim said on Tuesday at a news conference at the PPP Central Secretariat. He was accompanied by party’s MNAs Sherry Rehman and Syed Nayyar Bokhari.

Mr Fahim said it seemed that the government had contacted the Interpol after reports that Ms Bhutto was planning to contest the Senate polls.

The PPP leader said the party also viewed the government’s move as a part of the ongoing campaign against Ms Bhutto to keep her out of the mainstream national politics and an effort to undermine her visit to Washington, where she was scheduled to meet US parliamentarians.

He said the rulers wrongly believed that Interpol and other foreign law-enforcement agencies were subservient to them like the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Mr Fahim said the government had given an impression to Interpol that Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari had fled the country and were unwilling to face the courts here. He said that all cases against Ms Bhutto were politically-motivated and that they did not fall in the jurisdiction of the Interpol.

He said that Ms Bhutto had gone abroad with the court’s permission. Similarly, he said, Mr Zardari had been released on a court order after remaining in solitary confinement for almost eight years without conviction.

The PPP leader said that there were no convictions or warrants against Ms Bhutto in Pakistan. He said that the ruling for absenteeism was “illegally” passed in 2002 under a special presidential edict to stop Ms Bhutto from taking part in the then general elections and an appeal against the same verdict was pending in a high court. In 2003, he said, the Supreme Court held that a person could not be tried and convicted in absentia as it was in violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

Mr Fahim said that the rulers were afraid of Ms Bhutto’s return to the country as they knew that they would find no place in politics after her return. “Ms Bhutto will definitely come and expose these rulers before the masses,” he said, adding that Ms Bhutto had herself announced in the party’s London meeting in November last that she would return to the country before or during the next elections.

Mr Fahim said that over 500 party activists, including about 100 women, had been arrested in Lahore when they were holding a peaceful demonstration against the government for approaching Interpol.

He said that a meeting between Ms Bhutto and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was expected in London soon as it was agreed by the two leaders in Dubai.

Mr Fahim said there had been no contact between his party and the government.