KARACHI, March 31: Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani has observed that the recent incidents in Tank, Islamabad, Kharian and Balochistan show that the writ of the regime has ceased to exist.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, he said that the regime had deliberately been dismantling all institutions of the state gradually. “As a consequence, various warlords have sprung up and they now control the streets and institutions of Pakistan,” he added.

He observed that the law and order had deteriorated to the extent of near anarchy while the regime was still pursuing the policy of political vendetta.

Mian Rabbani, also a senior PPP leader, deplored arrest of political workers on a big scale, and demanded their immediate release, terming the continued detention unlawful.

Regarding the alleged crackdown ahead of the April 3 protest announced by the ARD, he said all protests organised by the alliance anywhere in the country in the past had remained peaceful but the Punjab administration had issued blank detention orders for arrest of ARD supporters.

He pointed out that such tactics had never been succeeded in stopping a political movement.

Meanwhile, Vice-Chairman of PPP Yousuf Raza Gilani has termed attempts by General Pervez Musharraf to get him re-elected from the same assemblies ‘a case of political suicide’, and observed that it would lead the country towards another big crisis.

Talking to reporters at the residence of a local PPP leader, Saeed Ghani, here on Saturday, he said PPP would oppose any such move and consider all options, including quitting the assemblies, if he was re-elected as president by the same assemblies.

He pointed out that through various political and diplomatic channels, the US and European Union had already made it clear to the regime that they expected genuine democratic system to prevail in Pakistan.

He also brushed asides reports of his party’s indulgence in any possible deal with General Musharraf.

Mr Gilani, who is a former speaker of the National Assembly, urged General Musharraf to immediately hand over the country’s affairs to a neutral caretaker government for holding free, fair and transparent election. “This is the only way to save the country from internal and external threats,” he observed.

In response to a question, he admitted that party’s chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto had some reservation vis-a-vis the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal as she believed the religious alliance had supported and strengthened the present government.

He also condemned the arrest and harassment of political workers, particularly of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) in Punjab.

Kamal Azfar, Taj Haider, Fauzia Wahab and other PPP leaders were present on the occasion.