PPP rejects offer on clemency to Zardari

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 12. The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has rejected the offer made by the military government regarding clemency for Mr. Asif Zardari, husband of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, on the lines of Mr. Nawaz Sharif.

The Interior Minister, Lt. Gen. (retd) Moinuddin Haider, in a statement on Monday, said the government could consider clemency to all economic offenders if they are prepared to part with their ``ill-gotten wealth.''

Mr. Zardari, who is behind the bars on a number of charges against him, has completed five years in jail. The contention of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto and the PPP has been that Mr. Zardari has been booked on trumped up charges.

The statement of the Minister, besides causing much anguish in the PPP circles, has also brought out that party's anger against Mr. Sharif for striking a deal with the Government behind the back of every one. The PPP is seeking to introduce provincial politics into the issue by raising the issue of Punjab vs Sindh.

The argument of the PPP is that the military establishment chose to let go Mr. Sharif as he hailed from the powerful Punjab province as compared to Mr. Zardari who comes from Sindh.

The PPP is not happy with the dramatic exit of Mr. Sharif from Pakistan as it came within days after the PPP agreed to let the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) become a constituent of the larger alliance of parties.

A spokesman of the PPP on Monday hinted that Mr. Sharif could strike a bargain with the military government on equal terms after becoming part of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD).

Taking exception to the statement of the Interior Minister on consideration of clemency for Mr. Zardari, the spokesman said, ``obviously the Nawaz family had big bucks which enabled them to escape jail in a clandestine deal with the authorities when the jail term had just begun. But those who refuse to involve themselves in corruption are being punished because they neither have the will nor the money to grease the palms that need to be greased.''

`Law flouted'

The spokesman said to satisfy its greed and hunger the military regime had flouted the law and let the Sharifs go but ``the PPP is opposed to the politics of double standards.'' ``The regime's racial discrimination against Mr. Zardari who hails from a minority province is so deep, that they are unable to observe the law where Mr. Zardari is concerned. This is deplorable.''

Calling Mr. Zardari a ``prisoner of conscience,'' the statement said that courts had allowed him bail on medical grounds two years ago but he is being kept behind bars. For Mr. Sharif, who hails from Punjab, a medical board was not constituted, leave alone a court decision obtained.

``The National Accountability Bureau has been exposed as an anti- PPP tool. The establishment quarreled last year and made up this year. The politics of principle has been abandoned for the politics of personalities,'' the statement said.

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Section  : International
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