PESHAWAR, Nov 24: The Pakistan People's Party has appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to grant protective bail to PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, to help her end her exile and return to the country.

Speaking at a news conference here at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, Dr Babar Awan, member of the PPP central executive committee, said that in the past the supreme court had granted protective bails to British journalist Mark Tully, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and others.

Benazir Bhutto, he said, was head of one of the biggest political parties of the country, but she had been forced to live abroad because her absence suited the run the country.

Dr Awan who is also Mr Zardari's counsel, said the superior court had already set aside the conviction of Ms Bhutto in a case. He said that many politicians wanted by the National Accountability Bureau, now in elected forums and holding cabinet posts, but Mr Zardari had to undergo eight long years of detention because he was the husband of a former prime minister who opposed the rule of the violaters of the law.

Dr Babar said that the establishment, which had played havoc with people's life and was a party to disintegration of the country, had realised that genuine political forces could not be kept out of the power. He said that opportunists and gangs of corrupt people 'adopted' the establishment had failed to deliver.

Since Oct 1999, Dr Babar said, the establishment had changed its masks four times in the forms of the chief executive's government, Zafarullah Jamali-led set-up, Chaudhary Shujat's 45-day rule and now a political arrangement headed by Shaukat Aziz.

He said that although Mr Aziz was the prime minister, he could not finalize a negotiation agenda with the opposition. His economic policies have failed and today the Afghan currency is stronger than the Pakistan rupee.

He thanked the parties in PONAM, the PML-N and allied parties for extending support to the PPP in struggle for the release of Asif Ali Zardari. He demanded early release of Pir Mukarram, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Yousuf Raza Gilani and others.

He declared that the PPP would not compromise on the issue of Gen Musharraf's uniform and the Legal Framework Order (LFO), which were a blow to the spirit of real democracy.

He said that the PPP, which had given a unanimous constitution to the nation, could never accept the LFO and allow a state employee to hold the office of president in uniform.