ISLAMABAD, May 28: Pakistan People’s Party has denied the that PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto was maintaining any contact with President Gen pervez Musharraf.
In a rejoinder to the Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sher Afgan Niazi’s statement here on Sunday, PPP spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that there was no direct or indirect contacts between Ms Bhutto and Gen Musharraf.
“The latest propaganda blitz is nothing but a desperate attempt by a beleaguered regime to divide the opposition through disinformation”, he said.
The minister in an addressing to a seminar here on Saturday claimed that Ms Bhutto was in direct contact with Gen Musharraf. Quoting Gen Musharraf as saying, the minister said the former premier had talked to the president on the telephone 12 times.
“Either the minister has concocted lies or his master has fed him a course of lies”, Mr Babar said. “Dictators have been thriving on lies to perpetuate themselves in power and it is no wonder that a new lie has been concocted,” he said.
“It is a pity that Dr Sher Afghan should have allowed to either stoop so low as to concoct lies or be deceived by his new military master,” he added.
The PPP leader challenged the government to produce the dates of the so-called conversations between Ms Bhutto and Gen Musharraf. It is the fate of a desperate and despotic regime to twist and turn as it fails to divide the opposition, he added.
A reporter adds: The Pakistan People’s Party Azad Kashmir has opposed the mandatory provision of a photo copy of national identity card for casting vote in the AJK polls slated to be held on July 11.
Talking to newsmen here on Sunday, spokesman and central coordination secretary of the party Ashraf Janjua demanded that the AJK Chief Election Commissioner Justice Riaz Akhtar Chaudhry should lift the condition. He suggested that the ID card number or the number of any other document like passport or driving licence should be written on the counter file before allowing the electorates to exercise their right to vote.
Mr Janjua said photostat machines were not available in the far-flung areas of Azad Kashmir and the condition of providing a photocopy of national ID card would result in a very low turnout in the election.
He said the chief election commissioner was a non- controversial person enjoying confidence of all the political parties. He said the CEC should take all the political parties into confidence to find a solution to the problem.
He said the announcement by President Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Secretary General Mushahid Hussain to support Muslim Conference marked the beginning of interference in the AJK elections. He said it was against the assurance held out by President General Pervez Musharraf to hold free, fair and transparent polls in AJK.
In reply to a question, he said the formation of People’s Muslim League was not a political threat to the PPP AJK, saying that the new party mostly comprised people rejected by or expelled from different parties.
Responding to another question, he confirmed that negotiations were underway to forge an electoral alliance with the Jammu Kashmir People’s Party led by Sardar Khalid Ibrahim.