ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) MNA from Karachi Nabeel Gabol has criticized the government for approaching Interpol to arrest party chairperson Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari.

Terming it a “frustrated move”, he said the step had been taken by President Pervez Musharraf after getting reports that Ms Bhutto had finally decided to return to the country this year.

Talking to a group of reporters at the Parliament House on Tuesday, the PPP MNA condemned the regime for making efforts to malign the popular leadership of the country through negative tactics.

Mr Gabol said the rulers were afraid of Ms Bhutto’s return to the country as they knew that they would find no place in the political landscape of the country. He said all efforts in the past to malign Ms Bhutto and the PPP leadership had failed and Gen Musharraf would also fail in his latest efforts.

He also criticized Gen Musharraf for presiding over a meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League to finalize the names of Senate candidates. “It is ironical that the army chief is finalizing the names of the ruling party candidates for the Senate,” he added.

He said the government was intentionally raising various controversies in the country to divert the attention of the masses from its failure to provide relief to the earthquake victims. He said the government had failed to provide any relief to the common people in the past four years.

He said the government had also failed to check the prices of daily-use items and the skyrocketing prices of sugar and other commodities had made the life of the common man more miserable.