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The Rediff Interview/Benazir Bhutto
 

July 2007

Mohtarma Bhutto condoles death of King Zahir Shah

Islamabad July 24, 2007: Former Prime Minister and chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has condoled the death of former Afghan monarch Muhammad Zahir Shah.

Former King Zahir Shah who King of Afghanistan for 40 years after being deposed in a bloodless palace coup in 1973 died Monday at the age of 92 in Kabul.

In a condolence message the former Prime Minister said that King Zahir Shah’s policies were liberal, progressive and humane even though his rule was also occasionally marked by political instability. She said that the late King had extensive experience of government having served in different capacities including as privy counsellor, deputy war minister and minister of education.

She said that the late King would be remembered for promulgating in 1964 a new constitution, which established parliamentary democracy and stripped the royal family of many of their traditional powers, and for allowing a free press and free elections. It was a wise move by the late King to rule a country in which 20 languages were spoken, and which had never been moulded into a cohesive nation and had serious problems.

She said that Zahir Shah tried to maintain good relations with tribal leaders that prevented the outbreak of conflict within the country. In foreign policy he carefully treaded the path of balance in relations with the Soviet Union and the West, she said.

Mohtaram Bhutto said that the fact that Zahir Shah was recalled from decades of exile at a time of crisis in his country and given the title of ‘Father of the Nation’ showed that whatever his achievements and failings he was still an embodiment of Afghan political legitimacy.

Mohtarma Bhutto prayed for the soul of King Zahir Shah and for solace to the members of the bereaved family.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto pays glowing tributes to
Shaikh Rafiq Ahmed

Islamabad, 24 July 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has paid rich tributes to late Shaikh Rafiq Ahmed terming him a father figure of the party in a letter addressed to his daughter, Mrs. Humera Rasheed.

Following is the text of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's letter.

"Senator Asif Ali Zardari and I are writing to express our deep sorrow and grief upon the sad demise of your great father Shaikh Rafiq Ahmed. He was a father figure of the Pakistan Peoples Party. May Allah bless his soul.

'Shaikh Rafiq was a stalwart of the Party whose courage, dedication, loyalty and enormous contributions to the PPP can never be forgotten.

'Coming from a working class background Shaikh Rafiq rose to be a lawyer and later a Federal Minister, a Senator, President of the Punjab PPP and Speaker of Punjab Assembly. He remained steadfast during the crucial years when General Zia was in power and party workers were being hanged and whip lashed and lady workers were being tortured in the notorious Kot Lakhpat Jail. During the darkest days of military rule when every attempt was being made to divide the Party and create phoney leaders, Shaikh Sahib took charge and held the fort for the PPP workers with great threat to himself and his family. His house was repeatedly raided, he was time and again arrested, when he could not work, his family faced dire situation but never put pressure on him to leave the Party.

'Throughout his life, when he agreed with Party policies or had differences, Shaikh Rafiq always maintained the unity of the Party. Indeed he was a key figure in my induction into and to rise to leadership of the PPP. I recall that it was Shaikh Rafiq who had presided over the Party convention in the Punjab to elect me as Co-Chairperson should Begum Bhutto be disqualified from public life. I have been informed that Shaikh Sahib's last wish was to see me elected Prime Minister of Pakistan for the third time as the Nation was facing its greatest crisis and the people were suffering untold misery through inflation and unemployment. In order to show his utmost sincerity, he would show visitors pictures of his long association with the PPP from the time of Quaid-e-Awam to mine. This gesture is simply unforgettable.

'At every turning point, Shaikh Rafiq was in the forefront of the Party's struggle until old age and ill health prevented him from actively participating. Yet even then he remained a source of encouragement and strength for the Party giving advice and mentoring younger Party members with his wealth of experience.

'Unfortunately Shaikh Sahib suffered many tragedies, which he faced with great dignity and respect. Such men as he who light up the political landscape with their clear thinking, vision, courage and determination are rarely found in the political history of our country. He was a principled man who never wavered in his commitment to his Party or to his leader and followed the path that Quaid-e-Awam had charted for a federal, democratic, egalitarian Pakistan where the people were the masters of their own destiny.

'Shaikh Sahib's sacrifices are a source of inspiration for the Party workers whose period of struggle in the face of authoritarianism still continues. The PPP workers have been subjected to numerous hardships during the past eight years as part of a policy to break the back of the most popular Party of the country. We owe it to leaders like Sheikh Rafiq that the Party workers have remained steadfast and have stood by the Party during its low phase.

'The PPP would continue to be guided by the ideals of Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaikh Rafiq to pave the way for a representative and consultative system of governance in the country that reflects the democratic aspirations of the people of Pakistan. I hope that you and members of your family will continue the mission of your Father by supporting the Party with the same zeal and enthusiasm.

'Please accept our heartfelt condolences and convey the same to other members of the bereaved family.

May Allah rest Shaikh Sahib's soul in eternal peace and give you and members of your family fortitude to bear this irreparable loss with equanimity".

PPP upholds terms of Charter of Democracy

London, 24 July 2007: The PPP has taken a clear initiative in signing the COD, as well as formulating the ARD when its component parties needed support, including the PML N.

Central Information Secretary of the PPP, Sherry Rehman has said that instead of planting discord in the ARD, democracy would be better served if the N League stuck to the COD's aims of ridding politics of military interference.

The PPP has never cut any underhand deal with the military, nor has its leadership ever availed of an opportunity to flee jail. Its dialogue with the regime has been focused on steps for the restoration of democracy through constitutional means via a free and fair elections, added Rehman.

It was the N League, which has created a new alliance without consulting or obtaining consent from its partner in the ARD, not the other way round. It is in fact, the PPP, which continues to uphold the terms of the COD and preserve the ARD.

Rehman said that the ARD Chairman would call a meeting of the alliance under no terms from anyone, as most component parties still seek to adhere to the terms of the COD and no new charter crafted with a new alliance.

The PPP has made its position about allying with parties that are ambiguous about extremism very clear. The party sees religious militancy, suicide bombings and terrorism as a clear and present danger to the very survival of the federation, and will not lend its support to the politics of violence.

PPP condemns NAB notices to Syed Khursheed Shah

Islamabad July 23, 2007: Pakistan Peoples Party has condemned the fresh notices issued by NAB to PPP leader, former Minister and sitting MNA Syed Khursheed Sah as “putting pressure on political parties and political leaders just when elections are round the corner”.

Syed Khursheed Shah who in London in connection with Party meetings for the award of tickets for the forthcoming elections was summarily summoned by the NAB requiring him to appear before it on Wednesday July 25 along with his bank statements and other documents in support of his assets.

The PPP leader has cut short his visit to London and is returning to appear before the NAB authorities.

In a statement today a spokesperson of the Party said that the abrupt summons to Khursheed Shah by the NAB showed that the regime had once again singled out the PPP for victimization before elections.

“It is significant that the NAB’s move has come close on the heels of the interview by Chairperson Mohtarma Bhutto to the Sunday Times of London”. Mohtarma Bhutto said in her interview that with the restoration of the Chief Justice General Musharraf had lost all moral authority and any deal with him would be unpopular and damaging to the political party.

At a time when the Parliamentary Board of the Party is meeting in London to decide the award of tickets for elections, the summoning by NAB of a senior leader and member of the Board only shows how much the NAB is interfering in the electoral process, he said.

The PPP believes that elections can’t be fair and free unless the regime stopped using its coercive arms to manipulate polls process, he said.

He said that it was a sign of the weakness of the regime in the wake of reinstatement of Chief Justice that it had resorted to vendetta to brow beat opposition political leaders. “The NAB is mistaken if it thinks that the PPP can be brow beaten by such underhand tactics”.

Messages of felicitations on reinstatement of CJ pour in
Mohtarma Bhutto thanks well wishers

Islamabad, 23 July 2003: Former prime minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party has thanked all those who have sent her messages of congratulations on the landmark judgement by the Supreme Court of Pakistan restoring the Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to his office.

Responding to the messages of felicitations Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said in her letter that the SC verdict was a triumph for the lawyers’ movement and especially for the PPP workers who made great sacrifices in life and liberty in showing solidarity with the Chief Justice. Its Lawyers wing and parliamentary leaders were the first to be baton charged, injured and maltreated when participating in the first protest called by the President of the Lahore High Court Bar Association. On the eve of judgement PPP workers were killed in a reception camp in a bomb blast when the Chief Justice was to address the Islamabad Bar Association, she said.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto wrote “ By restoring the Chief Justice and rendering military regime’s action unconstitutional, the Supreme Court has given hope to millions of people across the length and breadth of the country that in constitutional and legal matters which are disputed between the Opposition and the Government, the Supreme Court will act as an honest arbitrator in upholding the rule of law. This is the first decision that has been given by the Supreme Court against the Government at a time when the country is being ruled by an army chief. As such it will undermine the moral authority of the regime.

She further wrote “ We as a Party and Nation hope that in the coming days the obstacles in the path of the smooth functioning of the Constitution especially pertaining to the obstacles in the path of restoring the freedom of the people will be removed. Inshallah.

Praising the sacrifices of the workers she said, “I salute all those who laid down their lives in this struggle and to their families who will never get their loved ones back in this world. I also pay tribute to the lawyers’ community, members of civil society, the press and political workers who participated in the lawyers’ movement in sweltering heat and in violent conditions. The movement saw the tragedies of May 12 and July 17, 2007. Many loyal PPP workers laid down their lives and were martyred in our struggle for the restoration of constitutional supremacy and judicial independence. Although the loss of those who died has left a void, one must find solace in the fact that their sacrifice did not go in vain”.

“The Pakistan Peoples Party is heartened by the Supreme Court decision and sees it as a step forward for the rule of law and Constitution in Pakistan. I offer you my congratulations as the Nation rejoices”, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto concluded.

PPP supports the COD and the ARD

London, 23 July 2007: The PPP has taken a clear initiative in signing the COD, as well as formulating the ARD when its component parties needed support, including the PML- N.

Central Information Secretary of the PPP, Sherry Rehman has said that Instead of planting discord in the ARD, democracy would be better served if the N League stuck to the COD's aims of ridding politics of military interference.

The PPP has never cut any underhand deal with the military, nor has its leadership ever availed of an opportunity to flee jail. Its dialogue with the regime has been focused on steps for the restoration of democracy through constitutional means via a free and fair elections, added Rehman.

It was the N League which has created a new alliance without consulting or obtaining consent from its partner in the ARD, not the other way round. It is in fact, the PPP which continues to uphold the terms of the COD and preserve the ARD.

Rehman said that the ARD chairman will call a meeting of the alliance under no terms from anyone, as most component parties still seek to adhere to the terms of the COD and no new charter crafted with a new alliance.

The PPP has made its position about allying with parties that are ambiguous about extremism very clear. The party sees religious militancy, suicide bombings and terrorism as a clear and present danger to the very survival of the federation, and will not lend its support to the politics of violence.

Deal with Musharraf to damage PPP, says Benazir
By M. Ziauddin

LONDON, July 22: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has said that any deal with President Gen Pervez Musharraf in the present scenario will be damaging to her Pakistan People’s Party.

She said she is planning to return home early, tentatively in September.

In an interview published in the Sunday Times, she said the logic for a political deal that she had been contemplating with Gen Musharraf had been significantly weakened by the Supreme Court’s decision last week to reinstate Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Any deal now with the general would be unpopular and damaging to her Pakistan People’s Party, she said. “He has lost his moral authority.

“His popularity rates are down and it would be very unpopular if we saved him. We would lose votes by being associated with him,” she said.

Ms Bhutto said the Supreme Court had reasserted the independence of the judiciary and the newly strengthened courts could topple Gen Musharraf through rulings on whether he could be appointed twice by the same assembly and whether he could continue to serve as both president and army chief of staff.

Critics said the real reason for the suspension of the Chief Justice had been that Gen Musharraf believed Justice Iftikhar would overrule his plans to be reappointed by the current parliament, in which he had a majority, rather than wait for a new assembly that was due to be elected by the end of this year.

The only circumstances in which Ms Bhutto might still consider an arrangement would be if she felt it necessary to guarantee fair parliamentary elections on time.

Ms Bhutto will wait to see if Gen Musharraf goes through with his plan to be reappointed by the assembly before deciding whether to abandon discussions with him.

She is, therefore, making plans for an early return to challenge plans by Gen Musharraf to secure a new term as president without waiting for elections.

Speaking in London, Ms Bhutto, who risks arrest on corruption charges on her return to Pakistan, said she felt that going home would be less hazardous than previously thought and she would make a final decision on the date next month.

“I said I would return by December, but now my people tell me we should go to court in regard to my return, and that I should come back as soon as possible, maybe in September. We will decide at a party meeting at the end of August,” she said. “I feel safer about returning after the Supreme Court’s decision.”

The reinstatement of the popular chief justice has left Gen Musharraf more isolated than at any time since he seized power in 1999.

This weekend Gen Musharraf was locked in emergency meetings with cabinet colleagues, plotting a strategy to save his leadership.

If he seeks a mandate from the current parliament but is overruled by the Supreme Court, he will be forced to hand over the presidency to a caretaker.

Ms Bhutto’s advisers are preparing to challenge his right to continue wearing his army chief’s uniform while serving as president, and are seeking to restore millions of voters to the electoral roll. They will also ask for a ruling on whether Ms Bhutto should be released if she is arrested when she returns to Pakistan.

Gen Musharraf’s strongest domestic ally in his war on the country’s militants has been Ms Bhutto. Despite public criticism of Gen Musharraf by US officials, they still believe that he is essential to hopes of restoring stability to the country. They also believe that he needs a deal with Ms Bhutto to make headway and restore democratic legitimacy.

The options:

A comeback by Benazir Bhutto: Likely, but she faces an uphill struggle to become prime minister again. She can nominate a colleague as prime minister while calling the shots as party boss.

Early election: Unlikely. Gen Musharraf will have to announce elections next week so that they can be held three months later, just before his term ends.

An army coup: Cannot be ruled out. There are rumblings in the ranks.

A return to barracks: Musharraf can choose to abandon politics, though his successor as president may regard him as a threat as chief of staff and pension him off.

Time for US to get tough on war-on-terror allies
David Cook - 19 July 2007

Lee Hamilton, one of Washington's wise men on national security issues, called for the US to take a firmer line with two key allies in the war on terror, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at Wednesday's Monitor breakfast.

"I think that our relationship with Pakistan needs to be reconsidered, reevaluated.... What has driven our relationship with Pakistan has been the fear that the alternative to Musharraf would be a radical government with a nuclear bomb. I think that fear is overstated.... I believe it is necessary for the United States to be able to go after the sanctuaries in Pakistan," he said.

When he was asked whether such action could cause the Musharraf government to fall, Mr. Hamilton responded, "It is a risk, and it is a risk I would be willing to take." The US also should be tougher in dealing with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the need to meet performance benchmarks, Hamilton said.


"We have given him half a dozen deadlines. He comes up to the deadlines, and nothing happens. He doesn't do anything; nothing happens. Well, he has got that figured out. He doesn't need to pay attention to it, and he hasn't.... You have to have some enforcement mechanism, and I would not be too specific about what kind of enforcement," Hamilton said.

Hamilton, a Democrat, represented Indiana's Ninth District in Congress for 34 years where he served as chairman of the Committee on International Relations. More recently, he was vice chair of the 9/11 Commission and co-chair of the Iraq Study Group. Currently, he is a member of the president's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the president's Homeland Security Advisory Council, and the FBI Director's Advisory Board,. As a member of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, Hamilton had been briefed on the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that the White House released Tuesday. The document, which offers the consensus view of the nation's intelligence agencies, said that Al Qaeda had found a "safe haven" in the Pakistan Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

"The thing that is most worrisome to me about Al Qaeda is the sanctuary. It seems to me that, if anything, we have learned that we must not permit the terrorists to have a sanctuary from which to regroup, train, plan, and launch strikes within Europe or here or elsewhere," Hamilton said. On Iraq, Hamilton has not abandoned hope despite the major challenges the US faces there. "I still think there is a chance here. I don't know that I can quantify it. There is a chance that we can come out of this with a reasonable stability and a reasonable protection of the American national interest in the region," he said.


The former member of the House does not support congressional efforts to set a firm date for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq. "I have not favored a rigid timetable. The Iraq Study Group report favored a goal," > Hamilton noted. "Once you set a rigid timetable it drives your policy. It becomes very inflexible. You can't respond to conditions on the ground. I understand, obviously, the political pressures for it but I don't think it represents good policy. Now having said that, if I were in the Senate ... I would give serious consideration to voting for it because I want to put pressure on the president to move, and I know he is not going to
accept the rigid timetables."

A lasting solution to the problem of terrorism requires dealing with the radicalization of Islam, Hamilton said. "The root of the problem then is how you get at this radicalization of Islam. I think we have to think far more deeply than we have and go far beyond a military and a law-enforcement, intelligence response.... if you are going to stop terrorism you clearly need to have vigorous law enforcement, intelligence, and military action. But I don't think it is sufficient," Hamilton said.

His view is that, "You have to figure out ways and means of approaching those [alienated] people and seeing if you can reduce, to a minimum, the alienation. And the depth of that alienation has to impress us all. These people hate us.... I don't think we solve the problem of terrorism without providing, if you would, a vision for these alienated people of what life could be like ... providing them, as we said in the 9/11 report, an agenda of opportunity."

PPP welcomes EU resolutions calling for free and fair elections

Islamabad July 22, 2007: Pakistan Peoples Party has welcomed the recent resolution of European Parliament calling for free, fair and democratic elections in Pakistan and warning against the imposition of emergency rule or adoption of other suppressive measures to stifle dissent.

In a statement spokesperson of the Party said that the PPP has all along maintained that the holding of free and fair elections was the only way out of the present political crisis.

The resolution adopted by the EU Parliament the other day also called upon General Musharraf "to respect the existing Constitution by allowing the new assemblies to hold presidential elections and by relinquishing his post of army chief, which he had previously agreed to do in an undertaking to the EU".

It recalled Article 1 of the Co-operation Agreement between the European Community which stipulates that 'respect for human rights and democratic principles...constitutes an essential element of this agreement'. It said that a series of constitutional amendments under the Musharraf administration have altered the political system in Pakistan and transformed governance from a parliamentary to a presidential one.

The EU resolution said that the military and the secret services exert undue influence in politics, government and the economy of Pakistan, which is contrary to the principle of the roadmap for the restoration of democracy envisaging that power would be transferred from the military back to a civilian administration.

The PPP spokesperson said that the role of secret agencies had also been exposed in the judicial crisis and it was time that the agencies were brought under the ambit of law and parliamentary scrutiny.

He said that the PPP welcomed the fact that the EU will monitor the parliamentary elections in Pakistan and has expressed concern over the lack of legitimacy of the future President of Pakistan if elected by the outgoing Assembly.

The spokesperson expressed the hope that the condemnation by EU of spate of disappearances in the country would put pressure on the regime to address the issue on an urgent basis.

Attack on PPP camp continues to draw widespread condemnation

Islamabad July 20, 2007: The bomb blast targeting the PPP reception camp in district Courts Islamabad on Tuesday continues to draw widespread condemnation from within and outside Pakistan.

The PPP Houston held a meeting to condemn the attack and to reiterate the pledge that the PPP would continue to oppose both the military dictatorship and the militancy.

President PPP Houston Hassan Raza speaking on the occasion said that the attack had not only targeted the PPP but it also was an attack on the country itself. The meeting offered deepest condolences to members and workers of Pakistan Peoples Party who lost their lives or were wounded in this dastardly attack. It also prayed for a high place in heaven for those who lost their lives. The PPP Houston also wrote a letter to Chairperson Mohtarma Bhutto condoling with her over the incident.


Hassan Raza said that growing terrorism can only be control through the restoration of democracy and promotion of culture of tolerance essential for the stability of the country.

The PPP Houston also demanded a thorough probe in the incident to expose the macabre faces behind it and bring them to beck.

In another condolence meeting the PPP California also denounced the attack on PPP camp and condoled with the members of bereaved families. President PPP California K. B Bhutto in a letter addressed to Mohtarma Bhutto said that such attack would not cow down the workers from continuing to oppose dictatorship in all its forms and manifestations, including the dictatorship of extremism and militancy.

The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance has also condemned the attack. In a letter to Mohtarma Bhutto the Chairman of the APMA Shahbaz Bhatti said the "All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) strongly condemns the brutal and horrendous act of terrorism". He offered condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones "in a coward and inhuman attack of bomb explosion that have killed innocent people and wounded several mostly PPP activists waiting to greet Chief Justice".

Religious minorities of Pakistan share the sorrows of grieved families and extend their prayers and sincere sympathies, his letter said.

"We are perturb at increased suicide attacks and terrorism in Pakistan but these terrorists can never achieve their devilish designs by killing or spreading fear nor can deter democratic and peace loving forces. Killings of innocent PPP activities and the blood of other innocent people will not go in vain rather it will strengthen and accelerate the struggle for restoration of democracy, supremacy of constitution and independence of judiciary".

Such acts of terrorism vividly show that the government is failed to maintain law and order situation and provide security and safety to its citizens that is the basic responsibility of every government, he said adding "the government must resign and form a care taker government of common censuses to hold free and fair elections".

The APMA also demanded the formation a judicial commission to enquire this tragic incident and to unmask the hidden hands behind this massacre.

Following is the text of Shabaz Bhatti to Mohtarma Bhutto.
 

Her Excellency,
Mohtarma Benzir Bhutto,
Chairperson
Pakistan Peoples Party.

Her Excellency,

We are shocked and grieved over the killings of innocent PPP members at the PPP reception camp out side the venue of lawyer's rally to be addressed by Chief Justice in Islamabad. All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) strongly condemns the brutal and horrendous act of terrorism.

I on behalf of all religious minorities of Pakistan extend our condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones in a coward and inhuman attack of bomb explosion that have killed innocent people and wounded several mostly PPP activists waiting to greet Chief Justice. Religious minorities of Pakistan share the sorrows of grieved families and extend their prayers and sincere sympathies.

We are perturb at increased suicide attacks and terrorism in Pakistan but these terrorists can never achieve their devilish designs by killing or spreading fear nor can deter democratic and peace loving forces. Killings of innocent PPP activities and the blood of other innocent people will not go in vain rather it will strengthen and accelerate the struggle for restoration of democracy, supremacy of constitution and independence of judiciary.

Such acts of terrorism vividly show that the government is failed to maintain law and order situation and provide security and safety to its citizens that is the basic responsibility of every government. Moreover, it reveals government inability to control the situation and helplessness to stop the menaces. Therefore the government must resign and form a care taker government of common censuses to hold free and fair elections.

Her Excellency, APMA has issued statements to condemn this heinous act of terrorism. We have demanded the formation a judicial commission to enquire this tragic incident and to unmask the hidden hands behind this massacre.

I along with my colleagues visited wounded PPP members in the hospital and have extended our solidarity and prayers for their recovery.

We believe that growing terrorism can only be control through the restoration of democracy and promotion of culture conducive to the stability and prosperity of Pakistan.

With profound regards,
Shahbaz Bhatti,
Chairman,
All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA)

Mohtarma Bhutto welcomes Supreme Court verdict

Pays tributes to the martyrs in the cause of judiciary’s independence

Islamabad July 20, 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has welcomed the Supreme Court verdict in the case of reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaoudhry as one of the most remarkable judgements in the history of the country’s judiciary.

The verdict will be long remembered as crucial in the struggle for the independence of judiciary, she said in her initial reaction to the verdict today.

Mohtarma Bhutto hoped that the verdict would not only be regarded as a giant step forward for ensuring independence of the judiciary but also for the supremacy of the Constitution and the Parliament.

She said that as the nation celebrates the triumph of the struggle for the independence of judiciary we should not forget the role played by the lawyers, the chief Justice, the civil society, the media and the political parties that fought the battle shoulder to shoulder with the lawyers’ community.

She said that if the Party’s demand that the Chief Justice be reinstated and the reference withdrawn had been accepted the nation would have been spared the agony of the loss of so many innocent lives.

She said that the nearly fifty people killed on May 12 in Karachi and seventeen PPP workers and others killed in Islamabad district courts on Tuesday last on July 17 were all martyrs in the cause of independence of judiciary.

“Those who were killed, maimed and suffered grievous injuries and those families who lost their bread earners and near and dear ones in this struggle deserve the gratitude of the nation for their sacrifices”. Their sacrifices will not go in vain she said.

Mohtarma Bhutto said that the struggle, which began with protests over the regime’s blatant bid to subjugate the judiciary had acquired new dimension that turned into struggle against dictatorship, restoration of the Constitution and for supremacy of the Parliament. She expressed the hope that the struggle will continue till the goal of complete restoration of democracy was achieved.

Recalling that a number of important issues bearing on the liberty and rights of citizens including that of missing persons awaited judicial review, she expressed the hope that the judicial activism demonstrated by the Supreme Court would continue in a healthy manner to restore the basic rights and rid the people of oppression.

Mohtarma Bhutto said that reference proceedings also brought into focus the role of the agencies that prepared reports that became the basis of reference against the Chief Justice. The fact that the Supreme Court threw out the agencies’ reports and banned the entry of intelligence officials in the Court premises has exposed once again these agencies and the need to hold them accountable.

PPP calls for ending the duality of control of the intelligence apparatus and bringing them under the ambit of Parliament and civil authority and making them accountable for their actions, she said.

The PPP would also give a detailed reaction after studying the verdict.

'PPP stands by the nation in critical times' - PPP

Islamabad, July 19, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party vowed to resist any attempt that threatens the stability of the country. In a statement condemning the terrorist attacks in Swat, Islamabad, Hub and Hangu during the past four days, the PPP pledged that it stands by the nation as the country faces the onslaught of extremist forces out to crush the morale of the nation.

More than 200 lives have been lost in a series of terrorist attacks carried out across the country in the month of July. The victims include civilians, political activists, army personnel and security forces. The Pakistan Peoples Party braved a suicide attack on its members at the reception for the Chief Justice of Pakistan in Islamabad on July 17, 2007. The attack directed at the party activists tragically killed several party members while many of the 34 injured lie in a critical condition.

Condemning the recent spate of terrorist attacks, Sherry Rehman the Central Information Secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party, commented that these attacks are the outcome of years-long turmoil simmering under the dictatorial leadership in Islamabad that actively backed the extremist forces to stretch its own term in power. "Today these elements have assumed a monstrous face and have unleashed indiscriminate attacks on the entire nation. Even their supporters stand under attack today." Rehman said that the July bloodshed earns Pakistan the dubious distinction of being an example of how official support for extremism can bring the entire state down on its knees.

Rehman observed that the July 17 attack on the PPP camp was not surprising, "since the Party is known for its support for a democratic and progressive dispensation that reflects the choice of the majority of the people in Pakistan." She added that the July mayhem should be an eye-opener for the military leadership that has been harping on the "unity of command" formula to tackle the challenge of extremism. "For eight long years, the country has been functioning under the so-called unity of command system that also cobbled together a friendly political alliance for legitimacy. The result was that the nation became the worst victim of terrorism in the world."

Expressing her grief over the loss of over 200 lives that included valued members of the PPP during the July terrorist attacks, Rehman said that now is the time to decide if the blood loss should be allowed to go wasted or should this be used as an opportunity to pave the way for moderate forces to work in tandem with the nation to rid the country of the current mess. "The nation never voted for a military ruler to come to power and take all the decisions that has brought the country to the brink of a collapse. Today, the nation is paying the price for the rigged elections of the year 2002 that brutally sidelined the PPP that earned the public mandate to usher in a moderate era. Had the PPP been allowed to represent the nation at that time, the country would not have been going through yet another period of "critical times". Today the very unity of the country is under threat by forces of extremism and dictatorship"

Rehman pointed that the only way to bring some stability in the country rattled by violence and terrorist threat is to pave the way for free and fair elections. "We are confident that only transparent polls can facilitate a moderate dispensation that represents peoples' political and economic aspirations. Nobody has the right to play with the fate of 160 million lives and there has to be an end to the authoritarian and non-representative form of government that has been crushing the public will for decades now."

The Chairperson's message to all those who sent messages on Martyrdom Anniversary of Shahnawaz Bhutto Shaheed

I thank you for sharing the Bhutto family's grief on the tragic murder of my younger brother Shahnawaz Bhutto. Shahnawaz Shaheed was killed at the young age of twenty seven. He was in the prime of his life and had been fighting military dictatorship from the age of eighteen. He was in the forefront of the democratic struggle in Pakistan during the dark days of the Zia dictatorship. Shahnawaz followed the footsteps of Quaid e Awam Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who laid down his life while fighting for the democratic rights of the people of the country against a military regime which had usurped them.

Twenty two years have passed since Shahnawaz, a loving son, brother and father was snatched from us. Yet the pain is still as sharp as it was on that tragic morning when we found him cold on a foreign floor killed by our enemies. I will always remember the heroes welcome Shahnawaz received when I took his dead body back to our Motherland to bury him amongst those who loved and respected this brave young son of our soil.

After Shahnawaz, Murtaza was also taken from us. My Mother saw her husband and sons killed. My sister and I saw our Father and brothers murdered. It is your support and prayers which have enabled us to see through these dark and dreadful days. Inshallah the sacrifice that these great sons of our Motherland gave, and the sacrifices of all our other young sons and daughters, including those martyred in Islamabad on July 17, 2007 when a suicide bomber attacked a PPP camp, shall not go in vain. The day shall surely dawn when the sun of democracy will rise and with it a brighter future for our downtrodden people.

Sincerely,

Bibi

Mohtarma Bhutto writes to the CEC
Enclosed below is copy of the letter dated July 18, 2007 sent to the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan from Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto regarding Voters List of her Constituency NA-207 Larkana (Sindh).

July 18, 2007

Justice (Retd.) Qazi Muhammad Farooq
Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan
Election Commission of Pakistan
Islamabad
Dear Chief Election Commissioner,

This is my fourth letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the subject of the deficient electoral list for which the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is still awaiting a resolution. This letter is with reference to my home district of Larkana from where my family and I have traditionally contested elections. As the ECP is aware, the basis of a fair election lies in the fairness of the electoral rolls that are prepared wherein voters are registered and after registration permitted to cast their vote.

I attach a list as Annexure – I of the missing votes in constituency of NA 207 of District Larkana. This annexure shows in detail how the votes have been cut in 2007 lists as opposed to 2002 lists.

The Annexure – II indicates discrepancies in the registered votes in various Union Councils. For instance, 781 votes in respect of Channa Mohalla Naudero have been shown included in voter list of Larkana city Union Council (UC) -8 in 2007 lists. A number of votes of Block No. 94150210 from serial 74 to serial 237 belonging to Kausar Mill Mohalla and Brohi Mohalla, Larkana City have been shown in voter lists of year 2007 as part of Deh Khanwah of UC Pir Bux Bhutto. Whereas, a number of votes actually belonging to Block No. 094150210 from serial No. Ladies-66 to serial No. 150 have been shown included in list of same UC Pir Bux Bhutto. Also 800 votes actually belonging to a village of Larkana viz. Bugti have been included in UC Pir Bux Bhutto, as per 2007 lists. Also 470 votes of village Wikya Sangi have been included in voter list of UC-2 Ratodero city. Other details may be seen in Annexure – II.

Further National Data and Registration Authority (NADRA) has issued CNICs to 11 (eleven) minors of 13/14 years age, whose votes have been included in village Pir Goth of UC Naudero. There must be many more such instances which we can verify once you give us an electronic copy of the voters rolls.

More than 90,000 votes only from my own constituency i.e. NA-207 are missing in voter lists of year 2007 as compared to those of year 2002. In fact the numbers should have increased given that five years have passed since the preparation of last lists.

A large number of complaints have been received of large scale duplication of names in the preparation of new voter lists by way of including fake votes of one district in voter lists of other district and those of one Taluka in another Taluka (A list of some of the duplication / fake entries is enclosed as Annexure - III). These too need to be deleted for elections to be fair and we need the electronic rolls as well as names on the ECP webpage of all voters to enable us to help the ECP in correcting the dramatically faulty data wherein 30 percent of the voters have been left out of the electoral lists and 26 percent of those enrolled are duplicate names and fakes.

In addition it is noted from the Larkana survey conducted by the PPP that those polling stations have been targeted for reduction in votes wherein the Opposition had majority in the 2002 elections. In contrast in those polling stations where the ruling Party had won, the votes have gone up dramatically, for example in certain polling stations of Karachi and Hyderabad and elsewhere as reported in the Press. In other words, unless the ECP is able to fulfill its constitutional obligation to prepare accurate rolls and hold fair elections, the results of the rigged elections of 2007 can be calculated right now without a single candidate filing a nomination and without a single vote being cast.

NADRA has admitted that they have issued CNICs to less than 50 percent of people so far, and half of the population has yet to receive the new CNICs from NADRA. The Constitution of 1973 which was founded by Quaid-e-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto made it a fundamental right of every citizen to vote and elect a government of their choice. Unless this is done, not only the fundamental rights of the citizens will be violated but so too the spirit of the Constitution.

Further copies of the new voter lists of year 2007 have not been provided to Party representatives and indeed to my representatives in Larkana despite being willing to pay the fee for the said lists.

I look forward to hearing from you as to how we can work together to resolve the issues that have been highlighted.

Sincerely,

(Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto)

Annexure - I

Difference of Votes in Talukas - NA-207 – District Larkana

Annexure – II

Difference of Votes in various UCs - NA-207 – District Larkana

Annexure – III 

Duplication of some votes in NA-207 – District Larkana 

Emergency Information Centre PPP set up

Islamabad July 19, 2007: On the directive of Party Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto an Emergency Information Centre has been set up in the Party Secretariat in Islamabad to provide information and assist the families of the Party workers who were killed or injured in the bomb blast in the Party Camp in Islamabad on Tuesday July 17.

Party leaders have also been directed to regularly visit the injured workers in different hospitals of the capital and attend to their needs.

The Party leaders have also been directed to visit the families of the workers killed and injured to condole with them.

The telephone number of the Emergency Centre is 051-2276014-15 and is located in the Central Secretariat at House # 1, Street 85, G-6/4, Islamabad.

Mohtarma Bhutto thanks well-wishers for condolence messages

Incident will not deter PPP in opposing dictatorship and terrorism

Islamabad July 19, 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has thanked all those who have condoled the killing and wounding of Party workers in the bomb blast at the PPP reception camp in district courts in Islamabad on Tuesday.

In a letter addressed to all those who sent condolences the former Prime Minister said that she saluted the courage of the workers who lost their lives or despite their injuries are resolute in their fight for democracy and moderation.

This incident is not going to deter the Pakistan Peoples Party workers in their fight against both terrorism and dictatorship, she said.

Following is the text of her letter.

“I thank you for sharing my grief on the tragic incident of Islamabad on July 17, 2007 in which many PPP workers both male and female have unfortunately lost their lives or been seriously injured.

“The PPP had set up a camp to receive the Chief Justice of Pakistan. Unfortunately some hidden hands deliberately targeted the PPP camp. Some commentators have tried to say that the PPP camp was attacked due to the PPP's stand against militancy. However, the PPP rejects this view noting that while the PPP is clear in condemning militancy and terrorism, it was actually the PML Q government, which raided the Lal Masjid, and it has not been attacked. Any attempt to blackmail, terrorise and intimidate the PPP is an effort to strengthen the hands of the political opponents of the PPP.

“In any event, this ghastly attack has sent shockwaves across the length and breadth of Pakistan as for the first time innocent political workers have been directly targeted by the terrorists. It is clear that the terrorists aim is to create terror and create the conditions for emergency to be imposed, for elections to be postponed, for people of Pakistan to continue to be exploited and discriminated so that the anti people forces can flourish as they have since democracy was destabilised in 1996.

“This incident is not going to deter the Pakistan Peoples Party workers in their fight against both terrorism and dictatorship. This twin menace has torn apart the fabric of the Pakistani society. We are trying to save the unity and integrity of our Nation as well as build a democracy so that the forces of extremism can be weakened and the basic needs of the people can be addressed.

“I salute the courage of the workers who lost their lives or despite their injuries are resolute in their fight for democracy and moderation. It is a matter of pride for all of us that the PPP workers have always been in the forefront in giving sacrifices for the principles for which the PPP was founded and have continued in the same vein during the current struggle for the independence of judiciary”.

“May Allah rest the departed souls in peace and give their families courage to bear this irreparable loss with courage and fortitude. I also pray for the complete recovery of all those who have been injured.”

Makhdoom Amin Grieved over bomb blast at the PPP camp in Islamabad

Condemns regime for failure to maintain law and order

Islamabad July 18, 2007: Makhdoom Amin Fahim Vice Chair of the Pakistan Peoples Party has expressed profound grief and shock over the Tuesday bomb blast at the PPP reception camp in Islamabad.

Condoling with members of the bereaved families he said, "My heart goes out to the families of those killed and maimed in the barbaric act".

In a statement today Makhdoom Amin Fahim also demanded a thorough and high level probe that also involved the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan into the incident to allay "lingering doubts and suspicions about the hidden hands behind the macabre incident".

The PPP leader said that the regime had failed in maintaining law and order in the country. "The regime must quit and pave way for a democratic government elected by the freely expressed will of the people".

He said the people of Pakistan were deeply perturbed over the increasing incidents of suicide bombings and terrorism in the country and questions were being asked if Pakistan was a failed state.

He said that there appeared to be a hidden hand, as it happened just when the verdict in the case of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was about to be announced and the nation was preparing for the poll to get rid of the regime and elect a government of their choice.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim also prayed for those who lost their lives in the attack and for the speedy recovery of those injured.

PPP seeks judicial probe into attack
By Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD, July 18: Questioning the government's claim that Tuesday's bomb blast in Islamabad was a suicide attack, the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) on Wednesday demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Speaking at a news conference after visiting the hospital to enquire after the health of the injured party workers, senior PPP leaders and parliamentarians said the government should admit its failure in protecting the lives of the people and resign immediately in the best national interest.

Opposition Leader in Senate Raza Rabbani, PPP Secretary-General Raja Pervez Ashraf, Punjab PPP President Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Provincial Secretary-General Ghulam Abbas, Provincial Information Secretary Farzana Raja, former senator Farhatullah Babar, Senator Enver Baig and MNA Zamarrud Khan attended the press conference.

PPP Punjab president Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the party workers were targeted when they were preparing to receive the chief justice. He said eight workers of the PPP had been killed and over 60 injured in the bomb blast. The government has declared it a suicide attack, but circumstances indicated something else, the PPP leader claimed, without elaborating.

If it was a suicide attack, where was the head of the suicide bomber? he asked.

Raza Rabbani said there was a “complete security breakdown” in the country and the government had failed to protect the life and property of the people.

He reiterated the party’s demand for setting up a neutral caretaker government to hold free and fair elections in the country under an independent and powerful election commission.

He said that only a true representative government of the people could deal with such a complex issue. Raja Pervez Ashraf said that no one was safe in the country and attacks were being carried out against the president, the prime minister, corps commander, security personnel and now political leaders and workers.

He said the country’s federation was at stake due to policies of the present regime.

Mr Rabbani claimed that the attack had nothing to do with the statement of PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto in which she had supported the military operation against the Lal Masjid brigade.

He said the PPP’s policy regarding terrorism was very old, adding that the party had not changed its position after the 9/11 incident. He said it seemed that Tuesday’s attack was carried out to target the chief justice.

In response to another query, Mr Rabbani said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had played his innings and now the time had come to hand over power to real representatives of the people.

He said the PPP believed that the use of force was not the only solution to all problems and there was a need to find out a political solution as well.

Suicide attack kills 16 at CJP rally

* 63 injured, nine in critical condition
* Emergency declared in hospitals
* Attacker’s head found
* Nationwide strike called for today

By Mohammad Kamran, Zulfiqar Ghumman and Naveed Siddiqui

ISLAMABAD: A suicide bomber struck outside the venue of a lawyers rally here on Tuesday, killing 16 people and injuring at least 63, including 10 police officials, according to hospital sources.

The powerful blast went off at about 8:27pm outside the main entrance of the corridor leading to the venue of the event in F-8 Markaz, shortly before Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was to pass through the site to give a speech to lawyers of the Islamabad District Bar Association.

The site was littered with body parts and blood, and at least 13 people died at the scene. Ambulances rushed the injured to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and Federal Government Services Hospital, the two major government hospitals of the city. Nine of the injured are in critical condition.

The site was 40 metres away from the main stage where hundreds of supporters of the Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had set up camps to welcome the chief justice. The blast occurred within the PPP camp and many of the dead, including three women, were activists of the party.

The chief justice later arrived at the site with his team of lawyers. Initial reports suggested they planned to go ahead with the function. However, the chief justice postponed the speech, after offering prayers for the dead and injured and calling for a nationwide strike on Wednesday in protest at the blast. The rally was the latest in a series, which have drawn tens of thousands of Justice Chaudhry’s supporters around the country.

An emergency was declared at all hospitals in Islamabad, including the nearby PIMS, where 10 charred bodies and over two dozen injured were taken. Two unidentified dead bodies and three injured people were brought to the Federal Government Services Hospital.
The Pakistan Bar Council and Supreme Court Bar Association held an emergency meeting in the Supreme Court that was still continuing when this story was filed. State Minister for Information Tariq Azeem said the incident was a suicide attack and the head of the suicide bomber had been found. “It is a very unfortunate one and deplorable. However, it is too early to say anything about the target and motive behind this attack,” he said.

The minister said that security had been tightened in the capital after warnings of more suicide attacks. “The security agencies have cordoned off the scene and started investigations,” he added. Security agencies have warned of the possibility of more attacks in the capital, claiming that a number of suicide attackers had entered the city a few days ago.
Geo News quoted witnesses as saying the suicide bomber pulled up at the scene on a motorcycle. Azeem said the reports were being investigated but nothing could be said definitively till the investigations are complete. Earlier, Islamabad Inspector General of Police Iftikhar Chaudhry and Chief Commissioner Khalid Pervez confirmed that the blast was a suicide attack. They said one indication that it was a suicide blast was that there was no crater left at the site. “At least 12 people were killed and around 40 wounded in the blast,” Pervez had said earlier.

The blast came days before the Supreme Court is expected to decide the chief justice’s petition challenging his suspension and the presidential reference against him.

There was no immediate indication of who carried out the attack or whether it was linked to a spate of bombings and suicide attacks in the NWFP and tribal areas in recent days that have been blamed on religious extremists.

Agencies add: “I heard a huge bang and thought it was an electrical blast, but then I saw so many injured and dead people,” said PML-N worker Malik Shuja, who had bloodstains over his shalwar kameez. “The injured were crying ‘Help us!’ We put four people into each ambulance, not only on stretchers but also on the floor.”

PPP condemns bomb blast at the PPP reception camp in Islamabad

Says hidden hand behind attack to create anarchy and create condition for emergency

Islamabad July 17, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentary Board in London chaired by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto received the shocking news of the bomb blast at the PPP reception camp in Islamabad.

All members present and attending the meeting expressed their grief and shock at the tragic event and observed silence for one minute. They condoled with the dead and injured and their families.

The Party meeting condemned the deadly attack and demanded a thorough probe into the incident and arrest of the culprits.

At least eleven people were killed and scores injured some of them seriously when apparently a bomb blew off in the Party's reception camp set up to welcome the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who was due to address the lawyers this evening.

Mohtarma Bhutto said that the regime had failed in maintaining law and order in the country and there was no justification for the government to say in office.

"The government should resign and pave way for holding fair and free elections".

The Party expressed great unease at the growing incidents of suicide bombings and terrorism in the country. It expressed apprehension that a hidden hand was creating anarchy in the country with a view to pave way for imposing emergency in the country noting the case of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was soon to be decided.

The PPP said that it was surprising that even though the area had been cordoned off by the security agencies in view of the Chief Justice's address the assailants were able to sneak into the pandal and cause havoc.

Mohtarma Bhutto and Party members present in London meeting also prayed for an exalted place in heaven to those who lost their lives in the attack and for the speedy recovery of those injured.

Mohtarma Bhutto calls for international assistance to flood affected areas

Islamabad July 17, 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has called for international assistance to flood affected areas in Sindh and Balochistan where millions displaced by cyclone, flood and torrential are still holding hopes of relief following colossal failure of government relief operations.

In a press statement, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that hundreds of lives have been lost in the catastrophic devastation, which turned millions homeless, washing away hundreds of villages and devouring agriculture sector for the season.

Mohtrama Bhutto was dismayed at the restrictions on NGOs for conducting relief operations in Balochistan. Such a discriminatory approach towards Balochistan would not augur well for the country because NGOs had been allowed to operate in many parts of the country.

Media and party reports from the affected areas speak of massive losses, but the government has failed to estimate the damage and destruction. Several districts of Sindh and Balochistan are gruelling under multiplying sufferings as no relief has reached out to them even in the second week of their ordeal.

She said that her party was carrying out a relief operation nationwide from limited resources available to it and PPP bodies of the affected districts are mobilized to provide the required relief. Several truckloads of relief goods from PPP Karachi have been despatched to Larkana, Sukkur and Hyderabad Divisions.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto called for international assistance from the donors and NGOs and asked the government to facilitate the relief and rehabilitation instead of creating hurdles.

Postponement of general elections will be fatal, says Benazir

LAHORE: There will be serious repercussions if President General Musharraf defers the elections on the pretext of law and order following the Lal Masjid operation, Geo news quoted former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as telling an Indian news agency She said the operation was inevitable, as the Ghazi brothers had been threatening the government with the presence of suicide bombers in the mosque-madrassa complex. Bhutto said the mosque administration had kidnapped policemen, but no case was registered against them. It showed that the president was trying to appease it, she said, and criticised the federal ministers who tried to negotiate a safe passage for the militants hold up in the mosque. She said time would tell whether the government would continue its policy against extremism or not. Earlier in an interview with the Telegraph, she backed the storming of the Red Mosque, saying the operation had “drawn a line in the sand” and ended a “policy of appeasement” towards terrorists. Bhutto did not rule out a political deal being made with President Pervez Musharraf, but said that negotiations were “in a log-jam”. She detailed various bones of contention, such as the establishment of an impartial election commission and the abolishment of local councils mainly controlled by her political rivals. daily times monitor

PPP questions why OGDCL had not exercised pre-emption right to acquire interests in Badin oil fields

Islamabad July 14, 2007: Pakistan Peoples Party has expressed concern that the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) had declined to exercise its right of pre-emption as a foreign company that partly owns the Badin oil fields sold its interests to another foreign Company.

In a statement today a spokesperson of the Party said that it was most unusual and the matter needed to be probed.

The Badin oil and gas fields have been owned for the past thirty years by the Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd. (“OGDCL”) and two foreign companies, namely Occidental and British Petroleum (“BP”).

The Badin fields have been and continue to be prolific producers of oil, he said. “It made sound business proposition for the OGDCL to exercise its right of pre-emption and acquire a right from the Occidental when the latter decided to sell its interests to BP”.

It is most surprising that the OGDCL has reportedly declined to exercise its right of pre-emption and allowed lucrative interests pass to others, he said.

The right of pre-emption is enshrined in virtually every petroleum contract in Pakistan. There can be no rational technical, commercial or business reason why OGDCL should not exercise its right of pre-emption, especially when it is continually seeking to increase in activities in Pakistan and abroad, he said.

In fact the right to acquire a right in a producing field in the present high price petroleum environment is a valuable right and would invariably be exercised by any business concern operating on sound basis, he said.

He said that the decision has caused significant financial loss to OGDCL, the Government of Pakistan as majority shareholder and the Pakistan public as minority shareholders.

The reports need to be investigated, the spokesperson said.

Terrorist cells continue to exist in Pak.: Bhutto

London, July 15: Expressing fears that President Pervez Musharraf might use the issue of Lal Masjid, which was stormed by the Army to flush out militants, as "a pretext" to postpone polls, former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto today demanded dismantling of terrorist cells in the country.

"People say the Red Mosque issue was propped up as a pretext to postpone the elections. If that happens, the consequences will be very negative for Pakistan," self-exiled Bhutto said in an interview.

Pakistan is scheduled to go to polls towards the end of this year and the current Parliament has to be dissolved by November 15.

Bhutto also sought cooperation from the international community including India, the US and Commonwealth to pressurise Pakistan to hold fair and free elections. "But the elections cannot be fair when principal players are banned from contesting or prevented from campaigning," she said.

Bhutto, the chief of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), said the terrorist cells continue to exist in Pakistan and added that sooner they are dismantled the better for the country.

"It is very important to dismantle the terrorists' cells which continue to exist in Pakistan," she said, adding the name madrassa was being used as a decoy to camouflage the militant cell.

"The Red Mosque (incident) showed there were militant fighters in the Red Mosque, not just Pakistan militant fighters but foreign militant fighters too. So it is important for Pakistan to recognise the threat from them and take steps that are necessary administratively," Bhutto said.

The Pakistan Army had stormed the pro-Taliban Lal Masjid in central Islamabad on July 10 after talks with the mosque's radical deputy head Abdul Rashid Ghazi failed to resolve the week-long stand-off between the security forces and militants. The Army operation left Ghazi and 90 other militants dead.

Bhutto said "many people in Pakistan think that the militants were first propped up by some forces and then sacrificed by them. But I don't want to be cynical. I would rather say the regime had to act as there was no alternative left because we are talking about people who had admitted having suicide bombers in their midst."

The former Pakistan Prime Minister also emphasised that the country should have a civilian President while a military man should work with the Army only. "Military is not trained for civil administrative jobs," she said.

Musharraf wants fair poll: Benazir

London, July 16: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has said President Pervez Musharraf wants fair general elections but the ground situation in that country is "not conducive" for that.

Bhutto, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief, said her party's talks with the military regime had focused on a level-playing field for all political parties for holding of fair elections for transition to democracy for an empowered parliament.

"Musharraf seems to be very positive. He wants fair elections but on the ground the situation is not so optimistic because the electoral rolls have been rigged. So, the outcome of the elections has been rigged before the first ballot is cast," she said in an interview here.

"They have taken the polling stations where we won and reduced all the votes we won so that we would lose and taken the polling stations they won and they have increased the polling stations with duplicate votes to see they win with bigger margin," Bhutto alleged.

She said no settlement has been reached in her party's dialogue with Musharraf to facilitate transition from military rule to a democratic government.

Bhutto said as time goes by the possibility of such a settlement "diminishes" unless the core issue of fair election and other issues relating to future of Pakistan are resolved.

Describing it as an open dialogue, Bhutto said "we don't believe in any secret negotiation. All our dialogues are open and they have been going on for at least six months."

"We have kept the doors of dialogue open to facilitate transfer from military rule to a democratic government but there has not yet been a settlement. And as the weeks go by, the likelihood of such a settlement diminishes, unless the core issues of a fair election as well as other issues pertaining to our country's future direction are resolved," she said.

She said Pakistan Muslim League (N) chief Nawaz Sharif was also having dialogue with the military regime.

"We have raised this because we were also informed that the military regime is negotiating with him and he conceded that certain interlocuters had been to see him. But he said he has not reached any understanding with them," Bhutto said.

Bhutto said if the issue of fair election is not sorted out, "if the constitution is not respected by not allowing every eligible voter to vote, then we will not have fair election. Then, we will have problem there. Then, we will be heading like a situation in Ukraine where the Orange revolution took place."

She said "if fair election is held PPP is definitely going to win - this is what independent polls are showing. The International Republican Institute has predicted that PPP is the most popular party with most widespread support."

"We also have a good working relationship with other smaller regional parties with whom we are cooperating in Parliament," she said.

As regards her party's tie up with Nawaz Sharif's PML (N), she said they had signed a Charter of Democracy under which they have agreed that whether "we are in government or opposition we will support each other for building a political system that creates a pluralistic and tolerant culture in Pakistan."

Bhutto ruled out any cooperation with Musharraf as long as he kept the uniform on and rigged the elections.

"My party's dialogue with him is for restoration of democracy," she said.

Bhutto says is in dialogue with Mush

July 14, 2007 LONDON: Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto said on Friday that her party was having a dialogue with Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf aimed at restoration of democracy but denied entering any "deal" with the General.

"We haven't entered into any deal. Yes, we are having a dialogue but it is aimed at the restoration of democracy. We do not believe in any secret deals or secret negotiations," the Pakistan People's Party chief told reporters here.
"We have been carrying out negotiations since 1999 so that the democracy is restored in the country," the 54-year-old self-exiled leader said, adding "democracy would bring progress which in turn would eliminate terrorism and extremism. If the military rule perpetuates, so will the extremism."

She dispelled the impression that her party didn't join an alliance of opposition paries owing to a deal with Musharraf.

"In order to have fair and free elections, we negotiated with the government in an open and transparent manner but they deceived us on the very first stage.

"There has been wide-spread irregularities in the voters list. We wrote to the election commission on June 29 that we should be provided with the electronic voters lists. They replied that the law doesn't allow them to do so," Bhutto said.

Bhutto, who has backed the General's move to storm the Lal Masjid saying it was an end to ambiguous policies towards terrorism, demanded a thorough post-mortem into the Red Mosque episode by a parliamentary committee.
Speaking to the Telegraph earlier, she said the operation had "drawn a line in the sand" and ended a "policy of appeasement" towards terrorists.

She told reporters today that the Lal Masjid episode has raised a number of questions. "There should be a thorough post-mortem by a Parliamentary committee." She said her party would definitely participate in the national election although it has serious reservation about the electoral list.

Benazir Bhutto backs Musharraf's decision
By Isambard Wilkinson

July 15, 2007: Benazir Bhutto, the self-exiled opposition leader, yesterday backed the storming of the Red Mosque, saying the operation had "drawn a line in the sand" and ended a "policy of appeasement" towards terrorists.

Ex-premier Benazir Bhutto

In words that will play well in Washington, Ms Bhutto told The Daily Telegraph: "It was an unfortunate incident but I am grateful there was no policy of appeasement.

"It is the end of ambiguous policies towards terrorism, which have encouraged militants."

Ms Bhutto called for a "post-mortem" of the operation, meaning that further radical strongholds should be investigated.

"How was this madrassa able to develop in that way? There must have been some collusion [with the government]," she said.

The political prospects of Ms Bhutto, who has said she planned to return to Pakistan to re-enter the political fray, have been revived by a burgeoning opposition to military rule in Pakistan.

advertisementAmerica wishes to see her political party, which has broad support in Pakistan, take a prominent role in government after elections scheduled for later this year.

Ms Bhutto did not rule out a political deal being made with President Pervez Musharraf, but said that negotiations were "in a log-jam".

She detailed various bones of contention, such as the establishment of an impartial election commission and the abolishment of local councils mainly controlled by her political rivals.

In her most explicit statement to date on a possible deal with Gen Musharraf, she said: "We are saying that a power-sharing agreement is a subsequent issue. First we must resolve the nature of the elections." Ms Bhutto has been emboldened by recent comments from America's State Department, saying that the US expected Gen Musharraf to hold free and fair elections.

The first woman to lead a modern Muslim state, Ms Bhutto became prime minister at the age of 35 in 1988 and was dismissed twice amid allegations of corruption, which she denied. She now lives in exile in London and Dubai and, in the past, Gen Musharraf has promised to arrest her if she sets foot in Pakistan.

Speaking before the mosque was stormed, Ms Bhutto told the Telegraph that parts of Pakistan had already "fallen" to a brand of radicalism which she called "Talibanisation".

"I will re-establish the writ of the state and tackle extremism whereas elements of Gen Musharraf's government have actually supported militancy," she said.

However, she preferred to brush under the historical carpet her government's early support for the Taliban. "We recognise now that it was a mistake," she said.

Bhutto backs Musharraf on Lal Masjid
Press Trust of India

Thursday, July 12, 2007 Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf got support from an unexpected quarter, with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto backing the Lal masjid operation.

Bhutto said the operation was necessary to contain extremist elements.

In an interview to a private TV channel, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader said a huge majority of the public has supported the action against the extremist seminary, which was fanning terrorism.

She also expressed her sympathies for those who were killed in the operation.

Bhutto said the operation conducted by the security forces conveyed Pakistan's keen desire to maintain peace and harmony, which is being threatened by extremist elements who openly engaged in lawlessness and terrorism.

Expresses consensus

The former premier expressed her deep consensus with Musharraf over endeavour to make Pakistan a liberal and moderate state, the Pakistan Tribune website said.

Speaking on the coming together of opposition parties, Bhutto strongly refuted the formation of a new alliance and firmly rejected any such possibility without the consensus of the ARD.

While talking to a TV channel, PPP president Makhdoom Amin Fahim said his party would not support any new opposition alliance because it was not included in the APC agenda.

Bhutto vows to stand for third term in Pakistan
Saturday, July 07, 2007
By Omar Waraich

Benazir Bhutto has said she is determined to return to Pakistan because her country, facing the worst turmoil since its military ruler General Pervez Musharraf seized power in a coup in 1999, needs her.

Ms Bhutto, who was twiceprime minister and is now in exile in Dubai, said in an interview with The Independent that she was not deterred by the threat of corruption charges, nor by constitutional amendments that bar anyone from being elected for a third term.

"I intend to go back before the year's end and contest the elections. And if my people wish, they will lift that ban to enable me to then serve them as prime minister for a third time." Her remarks come as General Musharraf faces mounting opposition, triggered by his decision to suspend the country's chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry.

Since March, a movement of lawyers, journalists and opposition parties, including Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, have been mounting demonstrations to challenge General Musharraf's grip on power. The political stand-off has been compounded by a struggle between the government and Islamists, with security forces laying siege to a mosque in Islamabad where a radical cleric and hundreds of religious students demanding the imposition of sharia law were still holed up yesterday after days of clashes.

"Charges of corruption have been brought against me for more than a decade and nothing has come of them. I believe that these charges were politically motivated, just as they are in the case of the Chief Justice of Pakistan," Ms Bhutto said.

Pakistan's problems have been exacerbated by eight years of military rule, Ms Bhutto said. "We have seen in the past five years how there has been a creeping Talibanisation in the country, and how General Musharraf's regime has been unable to assert governmental authority. Musharraf does not seem to have much support left among the Pakistani people. He does have support from the international community for his role in the war on terror. It is possible that ... the army will give up on him."

But Ms Bhutto appeared to rule out the possibility of a power-sharing agreement between the Pakistan People's Party, the party she leads, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, the ruling party loyal to President Musharraf. Such a deal has been talked about in Islamabad as a possible solution to the present crisis.

"The signal right now is that they want to keep the PML-Q in the driver's seat, and try to have the PPP or PML-N (the party led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif) as a gloss of legitimacy. Give us a few seats here and there, and say, 'be good boys or girls'. But that's not acceptable to the people of Pakistan, and certainly not acceptable to the leaders of the major political parties."

Pakistan's opposition parties, which meet in London today to prepare for elections and discuss ways to lever General Musharraf out of power, have warned that the polls will not be free and fair. Ms Bhutto alleges that 30 million voters have been "left off the electoral rolls" for the December general election.

"If the votes can't be cast, they won't be counted. And if the votes aren't counted, it means the ballot is rigged. If they go ahead with a rigged election, I envisage that the people of Pakistan all uniting together in a grand alliance to protest against the move, as happened in the orange revolution in Ukraine," she said.

Ms Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, served as Pakistan's former president and prime minister but was overthrown by the military and hanged in 1979. She also served as prime minister but fled in 1999 to avoid arrest after her government collapsed amid allegations of corruption and misrule.

Although President Musharraf, who is compelled by law to hold a presidential election in October, told a Pakistani news channel in May that neither Benazir Bhutto nor Nawaz Sharif would be returning before elections, the Minister for Information, Tariq Azim, said Ms Bhutto was free to return "at any time".

"Benazir Bhutto is in self-imposed exile," he said. "Yes, she will have to face the charges, but I am sure that her legal experts can work out a way for her. The ball is in her court. It is highly unlikely that she will be arrested on arrival."

Mohtarma Bhutto denounces July 5 as black day
Says dictatorship created extremists

Islamabad, 6 July 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has said that July 5 this year was a day of tyranny in the history of Pakistan. She said that the grim happenings on July 5 this year in the Lal Masjid in Islamabad was a reminder how one military dictator spawned extremists to promote his survival and how the successor dictatorship was exploiting the same extremists for promoting his political agenda.

Following is the text of her message on July 5, which the PPP observed as black day.

"July 5 is a black day in the history of Pakistan. It was on this day in 1977 when a military dictator first struck in the middle of the night to overthrow a democratic and popularly elected government and then went on to spawn extremists to perpetuate his own political agenda.

"What followed thereafter is a sordid and unfortunate tale of destruction of democratic state institutions, decimation of the judiciary, usurpation of fundamental rights and disenfranchisement of the people of Pakistan. A reign of terror was let loose, innocent people were flogged and hanged merely for political dissent and sectarianism, religious extremism and private jehad were deliberately promoted by the usurper to create an artificial constituency for perpetuating his rule.

"The military dictatorship, believing in divide and rule, created extremist ethnic and sectarian parties to spread bloodshed and fear in the country.

"Corruption flourished with the creation of dollar Generals who exploited the Soviet presence in Afghanistan to line their own pockets. Siachen Glacier was lost while the dictator watched cricket and films. "The dictatorship promoted and patronised the most extreme religious groups that went on to form Taliban and Al Qaeda that first plunged the world into chaos and have now come to haunt Pakistan. It was a brutal, barbaric period in the history of Pakistan, which will forever be a black chapter to warn future generations of the ills of military intervention.

"Most sordid was the cold blooded torture that was carried out of youth that with courage raised the flag of democracy. Military summary courts were created to hand out death sentences to PPP and other democratic supporters who were then hanged.

"The Pakistan Peoples Party workers salute Quaid e Awam and all those who gave their lives during the trial and terror the Zia military dictatorship to keep alive the flame of democracy which still burns brightly despite all the attempts to extinguish it by using state force and repression.

"On the anniversary of this dark day when once again the country lives under the shadow of military dictatorship let us determine to strive for the restoration of democracy and the rule of law so that our people can undermine extremism and sectarianism and march onto the road of progress and prosperity with hope and opportunity for every single citizen of Pakistan especially the poor and the downtrodden"

BHUTTO - A LEGEND
IQBAL JAVAID
July 6, 2007

Leader of the masses, dauntless and brave
Addressed the masses ever in manners brave

Brought quake in the Assembly General
When he spoke for his country in special

He made China and Muslim World as friends
Other countries envied him and all the friends

Declared to wage a war for years thousand
His claims jolted the foes for years thousand

Bade farewell to a General, found guilty
Turned then to masses in style and dignity

Gave voice to the masses poor and downtrodden
Elevated them to new heights, always forgotten

Stood always by poor, students and peasants
Beacon of light for all the students and peasants

Built up his vote bank from tenants and tillers
Embraced them close to save them from killers

Won the Election with majority landslide
Dislodged old stalwarts turning the tide

A person with charisma won peoples’ love
Showered on them his affectionate love

Restored honour of soldiers after the debacle
Brought them home when tied in enemy’s shackle

Defeated in war he defeated the lady on the table
No one could ever dare to defeat him on the table

Rekindled national hope after the war’s trauma
Could not but foresee to become a victim of a trauma

Regained territory lost in the war miles thousand five
By his sheer wits and wisdom in days less then five

Picked up pieces of country truncated to make it anew
Raised morale of nation defeated to give thoughts anew
Gave the nation a gift of unanimous Constitution
With consensus of the opposition by negotiation

Gathered the Muslim nations in Pakistan on one forum
Terrified the West when spoke fervently in the forum

Gave voice to voiceless and helped them shape their fate
Could not but despite his insight forecast his own fate

Came to move mountains and change the course of history
Re-wrote the same in his blood a million pages of a new history

He made the country steel when founded a big mill of steel
He was never an ordinary man but a man of metallic zeal

Secured the country perfectly and tracked it on nuclear
He did not delay further when the neighbour turned nuclear

Found rivals as his foes when won the election second
Pushed anon in water hot on winning election second

Opponents refusing the defeat came out to voice against him
Mustered support of dissidents, haters to voice against him

With all sagacity and style outwitted the foes in lengthy talks
Prepared to speak to nation large what he won in the talks

Nurtured gracefully beside himself his own lethal enemy
He was never an enemy to any yet failed to identify his enemy

A man in boots did throw the great hero in the dark
The nation was flabbergasted and pushed in the dark

Frightened from the genius he put him behind bars
Failed to break him even by binding behind the bars

A vitiated trial culminated in orders saying his death
For cause of his country only he welcomed his death

Courageous enough, he was un-torn even in his wait of death
Placing papers on his knees wrote a book before his death

Did not forget his country and the nation even in his cell
Worries such mounted ever upon him languishing in cell


Confined in death cell dirty and full of smell bad
Could not avoid but in his sleeps the smell bad

Not allowed to embrace his daughter in his meeting last
His daughter beloved not allowed to see his glimpse last

Bereft of a cup of tea demanded just before his death
The tea hot witnessed miserably his death miserable

Walked gallantly to the gallows amid cruel many
Did not utter any word of hate to the cruel many

Hanged till death, charismatic man left the nation mourning
Triumphant General Tango played, men, moon, stars mourning

Poor Nagi, Aziz, Aajiz burnt themselves all alive
The nation losing courage burnt hopes all alive

The foes tried to destroy his footprints carved on history
Could not destroy but his name from pages of history

Lovers forbidden, admirers crushed to walk to his grave
He rested in peace watching the plight of foes from grave

Dismantled the prison he lived last days of his life
To erase all his memoirs and rays of his fading life

Lives now peacefully in hearts of the nation
Who lived once in glowing eyes of the nation

Beloved of millions, few but left to attend his funeral
Resting in paradise taking respite since his funeral

Like hurricane in life, lit candles millions with his blood
The rotten dared at midnight to shed the hero’s blood

In the heaven enjoying his life eternal
In the world his life was never eternal

PPP calls upon red mosque to release students who wish to return to parents following firing incident

Islamabad, 5 July 2007: Taking notice of the complaints of families that they wanted to take their children back to their homes, the Pakistan Peoples Party called upon the authorities of the Red Mosque complex not to hold the women and children as hostages against the will of the parents.

Sympathising with the parents the PPP said that the children were taken from the parents of working class, honest Pakistanis under the pretext that they would be given a good education, fed and looked after. However, this was not the case. Instead the Red Mosque authorities were using the children as human shields. Following the firing incident which left more than a dozen dead, several parents have gone to press expressing their fear for the safety of their loved ones.

According to one report in the Daily Times, "The parents said their children were inside the mosque and they wanted to take them home" and "When we told the administration of the Lal Masjid that we wanted to take our children back, the administration used delaying tactics." The report went on to say, "Jamil Khatak, the father of three students in Lal Masjid, said he did not know his children's whereabouts. "I don’t know if they are alive," a visibly terrified Jamil said. When Jamil was asked why he had got his children admitted to the Lal Masjid, he said that he was a poor man and could not afford any expensive school. Another man, Imtiaz Ali, whose daughter was a student at the Jamia Hafsa, said that he was anxious about his daughter's security."

Parents of Jamia Hafsa students injured at Lal Masjid told reporters outside a hospital in Islamabad that they had wanted their daughters to return home, but the Lal Masjid administration had not allowed the students to leave the madrassa, Geo news reported on Tuesday. Another report said that, "A social worker that met with the injured students said the girls had wanted to leave for their homes but their teachers had ordered them to stay in the madrassa."

The PPP called upon the Red Mosque authorities to release the students immediately.

PPP demands end to disenfranchising campaign

Islamabad, July 05, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party demanded that the government correct the anomalies in the voters list that stand to disenfranchise more than 20 million voters.

The controversial voters list that was released last month has caused havoc all over the country, with stakeholders, candidates and parties expressing their alarm over the process and presentation of the electoral list. According to independent analysis, 30 million names are missing from the new list that stands at 52 million compared to the one drawn in 2002, that carried 72 million voters. Experts argue that the new list should contain 82 million names owing to the population growth rate of 2.7% per annum and the entry of a fresh batch of teenagers into the 18 years age bracket.

The PPP said that the Election Commission of Pakistan has also refused to comply to their requests to provide them with electronic copies of the list so that the party could conduct an independent check on the list. The ECP's refusal has left the political parties with no choice but to conduct manual checks on the new list, which in a difficult to traverse country like Pakistan, is an impossible feat.

Sherry Rehman, the Central Information Secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party demanded that the regime roll back its drive to disenfranchise voters as the country prepares for polls. "The Election Commission should direct the government and NADRA to issue free computerised ID cards.But even if the ECP issues free ID cards, there is no way it can fill the daunting gap of 30million missing voters. It took no less than five years for NADRA to issue 50mn CNICs. There is no way political parties can issue 30mn CNICs in a matter of a few weeks. " Why should people be deprived of their democratic right to vote when the government has completely failed to ensure 100% distribution of the CNICs, despite being on the mission for five years?"

Rehman also pointed that the ECP enrolled all eligible voters which were computerized by Expert Systems that were also the consultants to NADRA. Expert Systems took the NADRA record and deleted all eligible voters who did not have the ID cards. "Rather than seeking ways to enhance the voters' base, the ECP actively worked out ways to eliminate voters." Rehman demanded that all the voters eliminated by the Expert System for not possessing CNICs be restored in the electoral list and allowed to vote with govt ID cards like drivers licence, arms licence, passport etc in addition to new ID Cards. Rehman also demanded that t he data entry gateways of the ECP computers being looked after by the Expert Systems in Lahore must be given access to all political parties and international monitoring teams, "because without such access there is no guarantee that rigging will not take place."

She also called for the ECP to make the electronic copy of the voters list available to the political parties. "Our manual checks have revealed a great number of anomalies in the voters list across the length and breadth of the country. The provision of an electronic copy, which is our right too, will help us carry out the task more professionally and will also ensure that maximum number of eligible voters are able to exercise their right to vote. The ECP has to decide, once and for all, if its goal is to conduct free and fair elections, or does it draw its salary from the national exchequer to pave the way for an unrepresentative group of power-grabbers to rule the country."

Mohtarma Bhutto and Senator Zardari acquitted by Sessions Judge Islamabad

Islamabad July 4, 2007: Senator Farooq Naik defence counsel of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has issued the following statement today.

The District and Sessions Judge Islamabad had registered a complaint of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto accusing her of making mis-declaration before the Election Commission of Pakistan in 1995 and 1996.

The allegations were made under Sec 42 of Representatives of Peoples Act 1976 and Sec 199 of PPC and section 82 of Peoples Representation Act.

The Sessions Court while registering the complaint issued non bailable warrants of arrest of Mohtarma Bhutto and asked NAB to inform the Interpol for the implementation of the arrest warrants.

The defence counsel Farooq Naek appeared on behalf of Mohtarma Bhutto and argued that the NAB did not have the jurisdiction and authority to file the complaint of this nature before the Sessions Court. He also pointed out that under various provisions of the law the complaint against Mohtarma Bhutto was not maintainable in law.

He also submitted that complaint has been filed with delay of almost ten years. In criminal cases delay in filing complaint is fatal as held in 2001 SCMR 1738 and the decade long delay showed that malafides on the part of the complainant.

Arguing on the fact of the case Farooq Naek said that no material evidence had been presented to show that false declaration was filed or any concealment was done. He said that Mohtarma Bhutto has categorically stated that she has not acquired any property in 1994 and or in 1995.

Defence Council also filed acquittal application under section 265 K praying that it was explicit that complaint has been filed with malafide intentions to politically victimize Mohtarma Bhutto and that it be dismissed.

The session judge Islamabad after listening to the arguments of both the defence counsel and the prosecutor Mr Baseer Qureshi today dismissed the complaints of NAB and acquitted both Mohtarma Bhutto and Senator Asif Zardari.

PPP calls upon Military Regime to Clarify Policy towards Lal Masjid clerics

Islamabad July 4, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party has called upon the military regime to clarify its policy towards the Imam of Lal Masjid and the nearby political Madrassas following recent clashes between the regime and the militants of the Red Mosque Complex which left many dead.

A series of increasingly violent clashes have taken place with the militants in the Red Mosque leading to threats, kidnappings and now killings. However, the regime keeps negotiating with the Red Mosque complex and each time the next round gets more violent. Meanwhile the militants continue to occupy the state owned Mosque, the state owned land and the state owned library. They have also declared a state of their own and vowed to enforce what they call Shariah but many interpret as an extension of the Taliban policies that caused enormous damage to the standing of the Muslim world and the Muslims.

Observers say that the matter could have been resolved without bloodshed if the regime had stopped the illegal construction of the Red Mosque political Madrassas in time. It was constructed after the general elections of 2002.

The recent clashes reportedly started when paramilitary troops put up a barricade of barbed wire to prevent the militants from kidnapping further citizens following the kidnapping of the Chinese who threatened to pull out nine hundred of their citizens in Islamabad alone. The militants tried to dismantle the barbed wire and according to Abdur Rashid Ghazi, "On this our students confronted them". When the students tried to snatch weapons from law enforcement, a fire fight took place in which nine persons were killed and many others injured.

The PPP said that it appears that the regime will drag on the confrontation with the Red Mosque militants with a view to divert attention from the Chief Justice crisis and also to use as a potential pretext to impose emergency rule in the country irrespective of the
number of people killed.

In April, the clerics set up a religious parallel court and called for the enforcement of what they term Shariah but which most Muslims reject as exploitation of the name of Islam. When the clerics issued a fatwa or edict against a female minister by the name of Nilofur Bakhtiar, the Minister resigned and the clerics got their way. The clerics have also threatened to stage suicide attacks and claimed that they are housing suicide bombers behind a female human shield.

By incrementally buckling under pressure of the Red Mosque militants, the regime is conceding authority to them even as human lives are lost or endangered.

The PPP called upon the regime to explain whether it would continue to follow a policy of one step forward to step backwards with the Red Mosque even as people lost their lives and suicide bombers sat safely in Islamabad or whether it would enact a policy to restore governmental authority.

The PPP termed the Red Mosque issue as comparable to a hijacking where hijackers hid behind innocent passengers threatening to kill them unless their demands were met. The PPP said that if the rest of the world community gave in to hijackers, hijackings would be an every day occurrence. However, experts know how to negotiate with and overcome hijackers and save innocent passengers.

The PPP said that it was deeply concerned that the Imam of the Red Mosque had been appointed by a Cabinet Minister of the Musharaf regime who had twice advocated suicide bombings and who continued to enjoy the confidence of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, General Pervez Musharaf and President of the PML Q Ch Shujaat.

The PPP said that the present regime was claiming that it would reform the political madrassas. Instead it presided over the building of one of the largest political madrassas in the country right in the capital. Under the eyes of the security agencies, suicide bombers were allowed to use the complex as a hiding ground behind women human shields.

It noted that development funds had been made available to parliamentarians belonging to the MMA to build political madrassas in their constituencies. It asked that if even these Madrassas contained suicide bombers, then how would the state, including the army and the police, be able to stand up to the take over of the state by the pro Taliban elements armed with suicide bombers and mini cantonments across the country with plenty of logistical support.

The PPP said that by such actions it appeared that talk of "enlightenment" was simply a decoy to facilitate the building of political madrassas which were actually mini military headquarters of an irregular army with access to enormous funds the source of which was not disclosed to anyone. The PPP said that a day would come when the
irregular army would march out of the political madrassas and conduct a coup d etat if they were not stopped in time.

The PPP said that if the present state of affairs continued where political madrassas flourished with suicide bombers and moderate forces were marginalised under the command of those who had taken power after the overthrow of the PPP government behind the facade of one leader after another, and democracy was not restored, the country was threatened with a pro-Taliban takeover.

Responding to claims by some quarters that the regime had created the Red Mosque issue to exploit in a bid to impose emergency, the spokesperson said that emergency would be unacceptable to the people of the country.

Fahim discusses election issues with State Dept officials
By Arslan Rafiq Bhatti

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Vice Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim met senior officials of the State Department in Washington DC on Tuesday and discussed the prevailing political situation in the country, particularly the forthcoming general elections and issues related to the functioning of the election commission.

According to party sources, Fahim has been in the US for the last few days as a special emissary of PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto. He met senators and senior congressmen in Houston, then travelled to Washington DC, where he met senior officials of the State Department.

Fahim reportedly expressed the party’s reservations regarding the new voters lists, telling senior officials that over 20 million voters had been excluded from the lists issued by the election commission and that the government was not taking the matter seriously. He told them that PPP had offered the commission help in updating the lists and in making the elections process free, fair and transparent. He said the PPP submitted 32 recommendations to the election commissioner in this regard, but the party had yet to receive any kind of response from the commission.

Sources said Fahim told the US officials that PPP had been trying to restore genuine democracy to the country for decades, and the party’s stance of not supporting dictatorship remains unchanged.

Fahim urged the US officials to ensure that their observers are sent to Pakistan to monitor the election process. The European Union and certain independent organisations, he reportedly informed them, had already committed to sending observers.

He also informed them that a delegation from the US National Democratic Institute met party chief Benazir Bhutto recently. In the meeting, she also expressed reservations about the election process, with special emphasis on the issue of the voters lists, he told them. He also informed them that the party chief emphasised the need to build national consensus for a caretaker government to oversee the elections. Bhutto has visited the State Department herself several times to discuss the election process and power-sharing options in Pakistan, sources added

PPP Urges Restraint

PPP Punjab President Shah Mehmood Qureshi advised the government and the Lal Masjid administration to adopt a responsible attitude. Qureshi said the government had not yet come out with any version on the issue. He said the holding of a high-level meeting after the incident had occurred to decide whether there would be an operation or not, was embarrassing for the government. "If the government has not yet decided about the operation, then what is it?" he said, adding, "We want to know whether the government or the Lal Masjid is responsible for the incident". He said people wanted to know who had triggered the incident that led to deaths of civilians. He demanded the government come out with reasons behind the act and said it was part of a chain reaction.

Mohtarma Bhutto condoles with Shoab Bhutta

Islamabad, 3 July 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and her husband Senator Asif Ali Zardari have condoled with journalist Shoab Bhutto over his father's death who passed away recently.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in her condolence message wrote, "Senator Asif Ali Zardari and I are writing to condole the sad demise of your father recently. The loss of one's father is a great loss and our sympathies and thoughts are with you at this difficult time. Please accept our heartfelt condolences and convey the same to other members of the bereaved family."

She also prayed to Almighty Allah to grant eternal peace to the departed soul and courage and fortitude to the bereaved family to bear this irreparable loss with equanimity.

PPP apprises international bodies of repression in Pakistan

Islamabad, 2 July 2007: The Central Coordinator, Human Rights Cell, Pakistan Peoples Party, Fauzia Wahab MNA, has apprised the United Nations, European Union, Commonwealth and International Human Rights Organisations of the state of repression targeting political parties, judiciary and media under General Musharraf's military regime and urged the international community to take up the matter with the Pakistani rulers.

In a detailed letter, Fauzia Wahab MNA expressed the PPP concerns over the judicial crisis, political chaos, growing extremism, restrictions of press and deteriorating law and order in the country.

About the judicial crisis in Pakistan, Fauzia Wahab wrote, "The Chief Justice was called by General Pervez Musharraf asking the popular Chief Justice Iftikhar Ahmad Chaudery to resign from his office or face reference on cooked up charges. His refusal to comply the diktats of the military general has triggered off a process of unrest and political stability in the country. The government's act was taken as an assault on the independence of judiciary. People from all walks of life came out in his support. Thousands of people including political workers of various political parties came to attend his hearing at the Supreme Court. In response to his defiance shown to General Musharraf, Bar Associations of various cities started inviting him to public meetings, where he was given rousing receptions by the general public.

"The Pakistan Peoples Party as a matter of principle announced unconditional support to the Chief Justice and has demanded for his reinstatement. Party workers, activists and office-bearers have been especially instructed to participate in his reception. Our workers come in thousands to pay respect and support him in his stand against the military general. It was this response that the Chief Justice was not allowed to enter Karachi.

"The ruling party in Sindh, the MQM, a major coalition partner of the military regime, did not allow the Chief Justice and his entourage to leave the airport. After a long wait at the airport, he was served deportation notice, while all major arteries of the city were blocked with containers, and citizens were not allowed to leave their premises. Rubbing salt on wounds, the MQM workers opened indiscriminate firing on innocent people who were proceeding towards the airport for the Chief Justice reception. Forty-eight innocent people lost their precious life.

"On May 12 medieval statecraft reigned supreme. Among the deaths, 17 PPP(Pakistan Peoples Party) workers and 12 ANP (Awami National Party ) activists", the letter said.

About political victimisation, she wrote, "Among the detainees was Babu Sarmad Mansoor district Finance Secretary of PPP Gujrat who fell victim to state brutalities. Arrested from Gujrat, Babu Sarmad was a known cardiac patient and his family had made several requests to shift him to a hospital. Unfortunately nobody paid heed to the pleading of his family and after ten days in illegal confinement he suffered a massive, fatal cardiac arrest at Kot Lakhpat Jail. He breathed his last as no timely medical treatment could be provided. Recognizing the efforts of party workers, the Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto saluted them for their courage and said that " your courage and sacrifice offers great hope to the civil society in their struggle for upholding the independence of the media in the country."

About the state repression on media, she wrote, "The new PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authorities) laws, were promulgated on June 3. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, the Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party and the former Premier of Pakistan was pained at the repressive steps taken against the media. Condemning the new PEMRA ordinance, she said, "the regime was demonstrating an intolerance, which would undermine the attempts to create a pluralistic and diverse society in the country".
She paid rich tribute to the members of the media who have been killed, kidnapped, assaulted, threatened, suffered physical intimidation and been victims of terror attacks but still kept up the flag of press freedom."

Regarding growing incidents of disappearance by the hands of security agencies Fauzia Wahab, wrote, "The sudden disappearance of Zain Bugti, the grandson of Akber Bugti, is a recent case of missing persons. His father Talal Bugti has reported that his son was kidnapped by the agencies while he was coming out from his office in Karachi. Earlier he had received a phone call from some Brigadier Maqsood the chief of MI (Military Intelligence). The Supreme Court took suo moto notice of the case and has directed the Musharraf Regime to submit a comprehensive report on his disappearance by June 6. The Chairperson Pakistan peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has called upon the regime to end the policy of state sponsored disappearances and demanded that the people of Balochistan be treated with respect, dignity and honor and stop alienating them from mainstream politics of the country."

"The Human Rights Cell of the Pakistan Peoples Party is also concerned about the growing extremism in the country. Ever since the PPP government was ousted in 1996, Pakistan's drift into religious extremism has remained on the rise. Violence, intolerance, bigotry, fanaticism have been the direct outcome of this trend. The military government
despite its tall claim of promoting moderate enlightenment has failed to arrest this trend. In some parts of the country, the fundamental religious forces have established their own courts, their own police and revenue collection system.

"The Red Mosque Brigade in Islamabad, the forceful closure of Music shops in the tribal areas, Islamabad. Kohat, Bannu, etc and the ban on shaving beards are a manifestation of this growing trend. But the regime has been quietly watching these incidents without any remedial measures. The sufferer is the common man, whose economic livelihood and financial well-being is now at risk.

The letter said, "Taking strong notice of this trend the Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party and the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto fears that extremism is tarnishing the image of Pakistan as a great moderate Muslim state envisaged by its founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah. She reminded that Islam laid the basis of a pluralistic state by protecting the marginalized segment of the society. She believes that without the
restoration of democracy the forces of violence cannot be weakened, our citizen cannot be given protection of law and opportunities to provide progress and prosperity through employment, education and welfare schemes cannot be created".

PPP terms provisional electoral lists as massively flawed

Islamabad, 1 July 2007: The Media Coordinator, Central Election Monitoring Committee, Pakistan Peoples Party, Nazir Dhoki has said that the forthcoming elections cannot be held fairly on the basis of the fraudulent electoral rolls which the Election Commission has put on display. Centres.

Nazir Dhoki said that the petition filed by members national assembly from NA-209 Jacobabad, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani to the Election Commission on 20th June 2007, has totally exposed the fraudulent provisional voters' lists. He said that the petition says in seven Union Councils of his constituency namely Karampur, Saiful, Jamal, Dunyapur,
Lalao, Suhliani and Malheer which have strong PPP support, at total of 42,454 votes are missing from the bogus of votes has been systemically manipulated and registered votes in the areas of his opponent has even exceeded the total population of the related units/dehs. In deh, Makhwani, Faridabad, Khambhri, Wahidpur, Gulabpur, Ghouspur, Dandhi, Bilhini, Dari and Haibat Kacho the total population according to 1998 census was 4,951 and according to voters' list 2002, a total of 4,444 votes were registered which have now in five years time has become 8,948. This is ironic and surprising that the total number of votes have nearly twice the population, which is totally absurd and this absurdity is laughing at the face of the Election Commission.

The petition prays that as the provisional voters' lists are discredited, the electoral rolls of 2002 be adopted and updated to be used in the next elections. The petition also asks to put the voters' lists on the Election Commission's website to facilitate voters, candidates, the political parties and other stakeholders.

A positive action in the interest of Justice and democracy will be highly appreciated, the petition prayed.

PPP gravely concerned over gas price increases in wake of new Petroleum Policy
Says policy framed only to favour cronies

Islamabad June 30, 2007: Pakistan Peoples has expressed concern over the imminent increase in gas prices in the wake on new Petroleum Policy that is going to be announced next week and asked the regime to reconsider the decision.

Officials of the Petroleum Ministry have been quoted in the press today as admitting that gas prices would increase soon after the announcement of new petroleum policy next week.

In a statement today a spokesman of the Party said that in April last that the Party had pointed out serious omissions in the draft Petroleum policy which it said was drafted with a view to open doors to cronies to reap windfall gains at the expense of consumers.

The draft petroleum policy 2007 was silent on the critical issue whether new gas price would be allowed only to the companies making new discoveries or it will also be extended to the old companies that are already producing gas. The Party has asked the regime to clarify it but it refused to do so.

The silence of the petroleum policy on this critical issue was intriguing as it was in violation of past practices and opened the door for benefiting cronies on a selective basis, he said.

He said that in all the previous Petroleum Policies of 1994, 1997 and 2001 the revised gas pricing formula was applicable only to 'new discoveries' i.e. those discoveries that were made after the Policy had been announced and not to the old companies that had already signed contracts and were already producing gas.

The Party asks the regime to safeguard the interests on consumers and not deviate from standard policy practices that allowed the new prices only to new discoveries and not to the old companies who did not bring gas on stream purposely with a view to benefit from the higher gas price in the new policy.

The recent manipulations in the stock market, in sugar and cement prices and in the aborted privatisation of Steel Mill have heightened suspicions about manipulations in the new petroleum policy that needs to be probed, he said.

Mohtarma Bhutto attends reception by Mayor of Geneva

Islamabad, 30 June 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto attended a reception hosted by the Mayor of Geneva in honour of the visiting delegates of the Socialist International.

The Mayor welcomed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and other dignitaries to the conference.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is expected to return to London tomorrow on July 1. She will be attending a book-signing event in Newham on July 3 at 1.00 pm. She also has several press interviews on July 2 and July 3.

Mohtarma Bhutto says fair elections are a window of opportunity for future of Pakistani Nation

Islamabad, 30 June 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has called upon the world to promote democracy universally and not selectively. She said that while speaking on "working for global peace and stability in a world of conflicts without border", at the Socialist Inter Conference in Geneva this morning.

President Mahmud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, President Talbani of Iraq and President Barazani of Kurdish area also spoke at the morning session of the conference.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that we who seek the ideal of a peaceful world can draw lessons from Europe. She recalled that Europe had witnessed two world wars in the 20th century which left death and destruction in its path. However, Europe overcame conflict because great European leaders decided to end war by promoting democracy and a common economic market, she said.

The former Prime Minister called upon the Socialist International to promote democracy and regional economic cooperation to build a world free of conflicts. She said that democracies do not go to war against other democracies because common econ factors bind them together. Moreover democracy empowers people and undermines the forces of terrorism. Democracy created a political culture that respects the rule of law.

Citing Pakistan history of military intervention, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that military dictatorship had created a culture of lawlessness, of private militias, suicide bombers, child soldiers and rampant proliferation of weapons and drugs. She said what happened in Pakistan was also echoed in other parts of the world where there had been long periods of dictatorship. She said that we as a world community must work together to overcome the path of catastrophe.

The PPP Chairperson said that the PPP sees a window of opportunity in the general election scheduled in Pakistan this year. Those elections must be fair to lead to a genuine transfer of power, she said and invited the Socialist Inter to send a team of observers to monitor the elections.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto pointed out that in the last five years the tribal territory were conceded to the Taliban who were terrorising the local people and attacking NATO troops in nearby Afghanistan. Moreover in the last five years scores of political madrassas had been built. According to the chief cleric of the red mosque, he had suicide bombers housed in the illegal madrassas that he had constructed in Islamabad and noted that the military regime had simply failed to assert its authority.

She said that the suspension of Pakistan top judge had created a judicial crisis.

Policemen were being kidnapped and disarmed and on May 12 in Karachi 48 people were killed by suspected supporters of the regime.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that if militants seized Islamabad, which was nuclear armed, it would be a catastrophe for the people of Pakistan as well as the world community as it would have terrible consequences for both.

Therefore democracy in Pakistan was important both to people of Pakistan and the larger world community, she said.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that as the first woman elected to lead an Islamic nation, she felt a special responsibility towards all women. She said her commitment to women's rights was in keeping with her commitment to human rights and democracy and that democracy empowers both men and women who are born equal. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that empowerment of women moderated society because women by their nature are moderating forces.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was accompanied by PPPP Secretary General Raja Pervez Ashraf, the president Women's wing Frontier Mehrunissa Afridi, President Women wing Punjab Beelum Hasnain, former President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and PPP Lahore President Mian Misbah ur Rahman, former high commissioner to UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan and secretary to overseas Committee PPP, Khwaja Muhammad Shafiq.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto also met with the delegates including the former prime ministers of Sweden and Nepal and the current president of Iraq.