In a statement issued from Bilawal House, the acting secretary general of the PPP, Mian Raza Rabbani, said the rejection of Bhutto’s papers had exposed the hollowness of the regime’s claims that the elections will be held in a fair and free manner.
“How can the elections be fair when the head of the country’s largest political party and the twice-elected prime minister of the country was not being allowed to take part in the elections?” he asked.
It is now clear the regime has no intention of holding fair and free elections and the process of election manipulation, which had already been initiated, has further been stepped up, he said.
“The desperation of the regime in seeking to disqualify Mohtarma Bhutto from contesting elections only shows that it has feet of clay,” he said, adding that it was wrongly being claimed that Benazir Bhutto had been convicted for corruption.
“The fact is that she has been convicted for absenteeism on the basis of a law made by the military regime and given retrospective effect only to secure her conviction and keep her out of electoral politics,” he added.
The PPP also contests the view that she has been absent from court proceedings, he said, adding that she was present in the accountability courts through her defence attorneys in all the hearings and it is wrong to say that she abstained from court proceedings.
The party’s secretary general said the nomination papers of Mian Nawaz Sharif for contesting elections from a constituency in Lahore were accepted even though he too was convicted by a court.
The PPP does not grudge Nawaz Sharif the acceptance of his nomination papers, and Mr Nawaz Sharif has announced the withdrawal of his papers as a mark of solidarity with Mohtarma Bhutto. The fact, however, remains that as far as the regime is concerned it has two sets of laws: one for Lahore and the other for Larkana, he said.
“This duality in the application of laws is dangerous for the federation,” he said.
He also urged human rights bodies and international watchdog bodies to take note of the election manipulations resorted to by the regime in stopping the head of the country’s largest political party from contesting elections. The PPP is not deterred and will fight it out both on the legal and political fronts against tyranny and dictatorship, he added.
He also criticized what he called “mass arrest” of PPP workers across the country, saying all such measures would fail to suppress their freedom of expression, adds PPI.
He said “illegal disqualification” of PPP chairperson had provoked the masses to record their protest and nobody could snatch their right of demonstration and protest.
FISHERMEN’S RIGHTS: The People’s Party Parliamentarians will cancel all the licences issued to deep-sea fishing trawlers, after it comes to power.
This announcement was made by Iftikhar Husain, the party’s NA-239 candidate, while addressing a meeting at Mauripur on Sunday. He said his party for the rights of poor fishermen.
He assured the fishermen community that his party, to protect the livelihood of small fishermen, would move a bill in the national assembly to cancel all the licences issued to big fishing trawlers.