LAHORE, Aug 6: The Pakistan People’s Party alleged on Wednesday that the ‘conviction’ of Ms Benazir Bhutto and her husband Zardari by Swiss investigating magistrate Daniel Devaud carried little value as it was nothing more than a recommendation. PPP Secretary-General Jehangir Badr said at a news conference that the government had prepared the whole plot for the character-assassination of the self-exiled former prime minister and her incarcerated spouse.

PPP leaders Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Altaf Qureshi, Abdul Qadir Shaheen, Munawwar Anjum, Kazim Khan and Aurangzeb Burki were also present.

Badr said the timing of the so-called verdict had exposed the malafides of the whole exercise. He said the magistrate had announced it on his last day in office.

The PPP leader said an earlier Daniel report regarding discovery of some more accounts of Ms Bhutto had been disputed by the then attorney-general.

The PPP leader said the case in which the investigating magistrate had given his decision was the same which had been remanded by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The PPP leader said the case had been instituted by Saifur Rehman, chief of the Accountability Bureau in the Nawaz Sharif government.

However, he claimed that Saifur Rehman had apologized to Mr Zardari for instituting false cases against the PPP leaders. He said, he did not know if Mr Zardari had forgiven him.