PESHAWAR, Feb 23: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) has accused the government of creating problems for Benazir Bhutto by instituting bogus cases against her and disseminating baseless news of a deal with the party on the country’s future political set-up.

“But nobody can separate the masses from the valiant leadership of the PPP,” said party’s provincial president Rahimdad Khan while speaking to newsmen at the Peshawar Press Club on Friday.

The conference was held to announce the inclusion of Pelosi UC Nazim Syed Nazneen Shah Bacha in the party.

Mr Khan said the PPP would not strike any deal with the government.

“We are with the masses and believe they are the real fountainhead of political power. We need not strike a deal with unconstitutional rulers,” he said, adding that the ‘government propaganda’ about the deal was aimed at tarnishing the image of the PPP.

He said prosperity of people and autonomy of provinces were essential for the stability of the federation, but the government was denying the masses their fundamental rights on one pretext or the other.

He said the rulers were damaging the federation by trying to sideline major political parties.

The PPP leader said the rulers had pushed the country towards a socio-political crisis which had become uncontrollable. While the educated youth were jobless, retired military officers were being rewarded with lucrative posts, he said, adding that target killings, suicide bombings and kidnappings for ransom had become the order of the day, but the rulers were paying no heed.

He said the government was trying to gag the press by denying it access to the troubled spots in the country. He said the journalist community was faced with manoeuvred risks.

To a question, he said the PPP had started looking for future candidates in the various districts. He said the party was busy doing its homework on the issue.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bacha, who resigned from the Awami National Party and joined the PPP along with his colleagues, vowed to struggle for the restoration of democracy under the leadership of Ms Bhutto.

He said despite a lot of problems, the PPP leadership had shown courage in the face of the government campaign against the PPP.

A large number of PPP workers congratulated Mr Bacha on joining the party.