PESHAWAR, Dec 30: Pakistan People Party’s provincial council has stressed the need for holding meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan to ward off another war in the region. The people of both the countries are against war and want peace to prevail on either side of the border.
Briefing newsmen after the provincial council meeting at his residence here on Sunday, NWFP PPP chief Khawaja Mohammad Khan Hoti said party chairperson Benazir Bhutto had urged both the countries to initiate negotiations under the Simla Accord and find a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue.
He expressed PPP’s concern over the deployment of forces on borders and the escalating danger of war between Pakistan and India. “Both the countries need to develop their infrastructures, put an end to economic and social backwardness and provide jobs to their people rather than spending huge funds on the war-machine,” he added.
The meeting, Mr Hoti said, also urged the government to withdraw all bogus cases instituted against Benazir Bhutto by the previous Nawaz Sharif government and the National Accountability Bureau, and let her play a political role at the very crucial moment of Pakistan’s history.
The meeting flayed the institution of a fresh case against Mr Asif Ali Zardari, who had been granted release on bail in all the 13 cases by the courts but was languishing in various jails since 1996. The registration of the fresh case had exposed the dubious nature of justice being propagated by the government, he observed.
The military government, he said, had sent Nawaz Sharif safely abroad by quashing his sentence but booked Mr Zardari in a fresh bogus case. Terming it purely a vendetta, he demanded Mr Zardari’s immediate release as granted by the courts.
Mr Hoti demanded of the government to constitute an impartial and independent Election Commission headed by a reputed judge of a superior court before the forthcoming general elections.
In the past, he said, the successive governments had fielded different alliances, tailored by the secret agencies, against the PPP. “Now, the same opportunists are being rallied against the PPP with all-out support. But, all the former rulers have failed to divide the PPP through their agents,” he added.
The PPP leader said his party would continue the struggle for the restoration of democracy undauntedly. “We will take all democratic forces along with us in this sacred cause,” he added.
To a question, he said they were in touch with various parties on the election issue. The party might be a part of an electoral alliance, he added.
Earlier, some district presidents vowed to foil the government plan against the party. Without naming Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, they recalled that various people had betrayed the party in past, but they had no political standing today.
They also held secret agencies responsible for a failed Afghan policy.
PMA OFFICE-BEARERS: Dr Hussain Ahmad Haroon was elected president in the election of Pakistan Medical Association, NWFP, for 2002-2003, held on Saturday.
According to a press release issued here on Sunday, the panel of Dr Haroon was elected unopposed.