LAHORE, Oct 9: Former Punjab governor and PPP leader Ghulam Mustafa Khar has announced parting ways with his party to join another one as a protest against the deal the PPP has struck with the government.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, Khar said he would now either join the PML-N or the Tehrik-i-Insaaf and consult his friends from southern Punjab and other areas for taking a final decision in this regard after Eidul Fitr.

He said by striking the deal, PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto had taken a wrong political decision which would not secure her respect or power.

He said he had repeatedly made abortive attempts to prevent the chairperson from taking this decision, but she damaged her political career so now he found no justification for working under her leadership.

Mr Khar did not see any role for Ms Bhutto in the war on terror as “devoid of popular support she herself is depending on foreign security agencies and bulletproof vehicles for her safety”.

He said US President Bush and Gen Musharraf were advancing their agenda in the region while Ms Bhutto had deviated from her agenda of restoration of democracy in the country and fighting for the rights of the masses.

He recalled that PPP founder chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had refused to extend similar relief to the then army dictator, Gen Yahya Khan, who had declared himself indispensable for the country and that the armed forces also wanted his role in politics even after the 1971 defeat. But the late prime minister’s daughter agreed to bail out Gen Musharraf against the precedent set by her father, he regretted.