KARACHI, Sept 17: The manifesto of the People’s Party Parliamentarians will be announced next week, in which bread and butter issues will take priority, said PPP acting Secretary General Raza Rabbani at a news conference at Bilawal House on Tuesday.

He said that after the elections, General Pervez Musharraf will have to contest elections for the presidency again. If he is elected president in accordance with the constitution, then the PPP will decide what kind of relationship it would have with him.

Raza Rabbani said that considering mounting unemployment, frequent increase in utility bills, beside hikes in POL prices — despite getting them cheaper from the international market — the strategy for emancipating the country from the debt burden would be the top priority of the Parliamentarians.

He said that in order to achieve true economic independence, difficult decisions will have to taken. He pointed out that in the past, before every election, successive governments made such agreements which made the country more subservient to the IMF, World Bank and other international financial organizations.

He claimed that the finance minister was more indebted to the concerns of these organizations, and was not concerned about the common man.

He said that with less than a month left for elections, the regime had no moral authority to decide about the NFC, which he claimed only an elected government could judiciously do.

He flayed the regime’s attempts to prevent the PPP from getting the right to represent the people through pre-election rigging.

He said that in the new parliament, if any bill pertaining to the joint electorate and women’s seats was presented, the PPP would support it, but the constitutional package announced by Gen Musharraf would be opposed.

He said the regime was trying to give the impression to the West that in Pakistan, no civilian government would support the West’s “war on terrorism.” If a civilian government felt that remaining in such a coalition is in the interests of Pakistan, then such a policy will be followed, he said.