KARACHI, July 12: Asif Ali Zardari, the interned husband of Ms Benazir Bhutto, on Saturday termed the government’s offer of talks with the opposition ‘time gaining’ tactics by the regime which, he said, would lead to no positive results.

Talking informally to reporters inside the Central Prison Karachi, prior to his trail in another case of attempt to commit suicide (FIR 65/99), Mr Zardari said “the general is trying to gain time for appointing his own crony in the top slot. There will be no other result of the exercise.”

He claimed that Gen Pervez Musharraf was not interested in allowing political forces to be strong and alleged that the general was exploiting their inherent differences to prolong his rule.

Mr Zardari said that with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s support, the regime could muster a two-third majority in the House but “we have no intentions to allowing him to be legalized. The PPP doesn’t want to be cursed in history for doing that.

“Whether one agrees with the MMA’s agenda or not, one thing is clear that the alliance has proved its democratic credentials by opposing the general,” he observed. He was of the view that the MMA was politicking with eyes on the future elections.

Replying to a question, he said that soon a movement on the pattern of the MRD would set off that would force the regime to pack up and pave the way for real democracy. Asked how such a movement could be launched without a leadership, Mr Zardari replied that movements could be guided by leaders from inside a jail and from far away. He cited the example of the movements led by Gandhi, Nehru and Mandela in this regard.

Answering another question, he said that next elections would be held soon under a new impartial and independent caretaker administration that would ensure return to democracy.

Asked whether he feared being framed in some other cases, he said: “Anything can happen in this world. In fact, it is not my trial. It is the trail of those who have made me suffer for the past seven years.” He, nevertheless, vowed to fight it out legally and politically.

Mr Zardari claimed that because of the political support he enjoyed, he had been kept in confinement. He described the charges against him as “pre-emptive strike.”

Commenting on the new contempt ordinance, Mr Zardari said the judiciary did not need such ordinances to protect itself. It is an attempt to further gag legal fraternity and the media, he remarked.

When asked to comment on Friday’s bomb explosion in the city, Mr Zardari feared that this was an indication of bad days ahead. He said that such a lapse occurred because security agencies were not doing their job. Instead, he added, they were harassing people.

Had the agencies been doing their job, instead of harassing their own citizens, such knock at the door would not have been possible, he said.

When his attention was drawn to the statement attributed to the provincial government’s adviser on home, Aftab Shaikh, that the building where the bomb blast occurred was the property of one Dawood Ibrahim, who is wanted by India, Mr Zardari expressed his ignorance. However, he was categorical when he said that there was nobody with this name here. “This is just a phantom created by India.”

He deplored that the country had been reduced to a transit port for human smuggling.

Mr Zardari, who was flanked by Agha Siraj Durrani, Nabeel Gabol and Hariram Ishwarilal, was also visited by Mr Javed Burki, former chief of PACO, before being released on bail by the SHC.