KARACHI, Sept 9: Pakistan People’s Party Deputy Secretary-General and Opposition Leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani has said the party will never accept President General Pervez Musharraf in uniform and will oppose his re-election by the sitting assemblies.
He was speaking at a PPP workers’ meeting organised by the party’s Karachi division on Sunday at a ground near Bilawal House. The meeting was part of the preparations to greet party chairperson Benazir Bhutto on her arrival in the country.
People’s Party Sindh President Syed Qaim Ali Shah,
Nisar Khuhro, Fehmida Mirza, Aftab Shahban Mirani, ARD central leader Mufti Naeemuddin Hazarvi and local PPP leaders also spoke at the meeting.
Mr Rabbani said the PPP would accord Ms Bhutto a historic welcome and “wash out
anti-PPP forces from the country.”
He ruled out any alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) which, he said, “was the party of plunderers and believed in the politics of looting the wealth of the country.” He added that it was impossible for the PPP to make an alliance with anti-democracy forces, as the party believed in the might of the people and the supremacy of parliament.
He said the PPP chairperson knew the wishes of the people and was striving for the restoration of genuine democracy in the country.
He alleged that anti-PPP forces, with the help of the army and extremists, had orchestrated a well-planned conspiracy to conduct a media trial of the PPP chairperson. He said that these forces were opposed to the government of the people and the rule of law.
Opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro and PPP Sindh President Syed Qaim Ali Shah criticised PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif for signing a deal with the establishment and now pointing fingers at the PPP.
They claimed that Nawaz Sharif had deceived the people of the country and was responsible for the split in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, adding that during the regime of Mr Sharif thousands of labourers were made jobless and fabricated cases were registered against the leaders and workers of the PPP.
They said people would celebrate a “double Eid” after the arrival of the PPP chairperson in the country.
PPP Sindh Information Secretary and MNA Dr Fehmida Mirza said that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was still alive in the hearts of the people and the people would stage a historic welcome for Ms Bhutto.
PPP central leader Aftab Shahban Mirani said that it was his wish that the party chairperson would land at Karachi. He said Ms Bhutto’s return date would be announced countrywide on Sept 14.
A resolution was also passed in which the PPP central and local leaders said they had complete confidence in the leadership of the PPP chairperson and paid tribute to her for striving for the restoration of genuine democracy.
ARD central leader Mufti Naeemuddin Hazarvi said the APDM alliance was formed only to hamper Ms Bhutto’s arrival in the country and lambasted the PML-N and MMA leaders.
Local PPP leaders also spoke at the rally.
Khar attacked
Meanwhile, PPP leader Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah said that Ghulam Mustafa Khar was a circus lion who changed his direction on cue.
“Once again Mr Khar has shown his disloyalty to Benazir Bhutto. He should inform the public on whose signals is another IJI being created and who sent him to London,” he said.
He claimed that Mr Khar’s press conference with Nawaz Sharif in London “amply unveils his character, where he spat venom against PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto.”
He said the dream of Nawaz Sharif and Khar to defeat the PPP in Punjab would never come true as Khar himself had declared himself the lion of Punjab while dubbing
Nawaz Sharif the “goat of Punjab.”
Khursheed Shah said that Khar’s history is full of political deceptions as he fled to London after a secret deal with Gen Ziaul Haq, leaving behind his patron Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a prison cell.
He claimed that in 1986, when Benazir Bhutto returned home, Khar begged for pardon through senior workers and requested for a ministry in the PPP’s cabinet.