KARACHI, Nov 22: PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari has offered that he can serve as a bridge between different political forces who, he stressed, must come together to emancipate people from the shackles of the autocratic rule.

Addressing a midnight press conference at the Bilawal House soon after his release on bail, Mr Zardari vowed to continue the struggle for which Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Mir Murtaza and Mir Shahnawaz Bhutto, and Abdullah Murad and Munawar Suhrawardy had paid with their lives.

He commended his wife Benazir Bhutto for undergoing a long spell of agony in exile for the sake of democracy, constitutional dispensation and the people at large. He told a questioner that he was part of the ARD struggle and his release was not the outcome of any deal and it would have no bearing on political developments.

Mr Zardari, who entered his seaside residence after eight years, said that if he had to compromise and seek release then he would have done it long ago and accepted the offer made to him soon after his arrest by the then Punjab governor Tariq Rahim.

However, he said, it did not mean that he should not talk to establishment. He emphasized that it was time for the establishment to look at the stark realities of the situation in and outside the country and the evolving threat to the country's security.

He said political forces must get united to make a fresh beginning by emancipating society from the clutches of establishment. In reply to a question, Mr Zardari said that during eight years of his detention he had missed his wife and children very much and was deeply saddened on the demise of his mother and nephew.

He thanked Mian Nawaz Sharif and Maulana Fazlur Rehman for congratulating him on his release. He expressed the belief that general elections would be held next year. About the uniform issue, he said the PPP had already stated its position on the subject.

He expressed concern over the continuing detention of PML leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and PPP leader Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani. Earlier, a large number of slogan-chanting PPP activists swarmed the Dr Ziauddin Hospital to welcome Mr Zardari.

The release order was served on Mr Zardari at about 10.30pm after which the PPP activists burst into cheers and distributed sweets. Mr Zardari was acquitted in four cases and was on bail in 11 cases prior to the BMW case.