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KARACHI, Oct 24: As the exchange of venomous words between leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party and the ruling Muslim League intensified on Wednesday, Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro said that his party was consulting its lawyers to lodge an FIR against the Sindh chief minister for making threatening statements against the PPP chairperson and encouraging religious extremists to mount suicide attacks on PPP rallies.
Speaking at a hurriedly called press conference at the Karachi Press Club, Mr Khuhro cited the chief minister’s statement reported in a Sindhi newspaper saying that “I will finance any person who is willing to commit suicide bombing in a PPP rally” and that “suicide bombers attacked the rally because the PPP workers were dancing and singing” and termed the PPP chairperson’s arrival “a curse for the country”.
The PPP Sindh leader said the PPP was not satisfied with the Sindh government’s investigation into the Oct 18 incident and demanded that foreign experts be called to probe the blasts. He added that the FIR lodged by the PPP had not yet been registered.
Amnesty opposed
Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has opposed granting an amnesty to Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto and others and demanded that corruption cases be pursued “to get back all the plundered wealth from them”.
The chief minister, who was addressing a press conference on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting at the New Sindh Secretariat, made this demand when his attention was drawn to the press reports that the Sindh CM was one of the three persons named by the PPP chairperson as suspects for the suicide attack on her procession in her letter to President Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Terming the accusation baseless, he said she must return the Rs90 billion “siphoned away by her”.
When asked if the TPO of Clifton and the DIG of Larkana were being removed as was demanded by Benazir Bhutto, Dr Rahim said she was sometimes demanding the removal of the IB chief and sometimes the chief minister’s. She could make such demands only after coming to power. “At present, we are here and know our responsibilities in regard to postings of officials.”
However, as per practice, the chief investigation officer was being replaced as she had expressed her no-confidence in the official.
He expressed satisfaction over the direction and progress in the investigation of the Oct 18 tragedy pointing out that the investigation team had found some clues which could not be disclosed at this stage as its disclosure could obstruct its further progress.
