LARKANA, Oct 3: The government’s indemnity to the People’s Party leaders in return of their votes in the presidential elections amounts to open rigging said Sindh National Front Chairman Mumtaz Ali Bhutto on Wednesday.

In a statement he said if Ms Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and their party members were allowed to get away with corruption of public funds, then what is the justification of keeping hundreds of dacoits and criminals in jails whose crimes are insignificant.

He said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s remarks reported in the press that Ms Bhutto should be made part of the government setup were clear interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan.

It is the US government who is running the country but would the US tolerate a prime minister who has been sacked twice for corruption and whose spouse, apart from corruption cases, also had been named in four murder cases, he asked.

He said the president Nixon’s bugging of the Democratic Party’s headquarters is noting in comparison with the crimes of Ms Bhutto and her spouse. But Nixon lost his presidency whereas Ms Bhutto was being sponsored by the Americans for premiership.

The US government is completely wrong in assuming that a combined government of ‘secular’ and ‘fascist’ elements in Pakistan could deal with the fundamentalists more effectively, Mr Bhutto said.