LARKANA, April 4: Saying “no” to the proposed referendum, the senior vice chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, has advised President Gen Pervez Musharraf to hold talks with Benazir Bhutto.

He was speaking at a big public gathering in Garhi Khuda Bukhsh Bhutto on Thursday to mark the 23rd death anniversary of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the founder of the PPP.

Mr Fahim asked the general to adopt the modus operandi laid down in the Constitution for the election of the president and added that he could hold talks with the PPP chairperson regarding it.

He said, “This is the only remedy available to you to legitimately become the president.”

He said that it was astonishing that the generals who in the past had opposed the PPP, after retirement had joined it.

Without naming Gen Pervez Musharraf, he asked him to think before taking any steps as he too might later on come into the folds of the PPP.

He claimed that the PPP was the only party that enjoyed the support of the masses and had its vote bank intact.

He criticized the government for harassing the PPP leaders by framing “unfounded and false” charges against them and imprisoning them without a valid reason.

The cases against the PPP leaders were politically motivated and registered after tampering with documents, Mr Fahim said and cited the examples of the various cases against Asif Ali Zardari, Yusuf Raza Gilani, Jahangir Badar and others.

He said that personal likes and dislikes paired with ill-intentions were the motives behind the arrests of PPP leaders.

He asked the government to withdraw the cases and release the party leaders.

Mr Fahim said the people of all four provinces and workers from Azad Jammu and Kashmir had injected their energies in making the PPP a big political party of the country.

He paid rich tributes to the late Gen Tikka Khan, former general secretary of the PPP, who died a few days ago.

Raza Rabbani, the general secretary of the PPP, Ishaque Zafar, Nisar Khuhro, Aitzaz Ahsan, Prof N.D. Khan, Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Qaim Ali Shah, Sultan Mehmood, and others paid tribute to the late Z.A. Bhutto and renewed the pledge to carry forward his mission.

Thousands of party activists gathered in the shanty village of Garhi Khuda Bukhsh Bhutto to pay homage to Mr Bhutto.

The activists from all over the country stayed for two days in the village and renewed their pledge to complete the mission of their executed leader.