KARACHI, 18 June — The Pakistan People’s Party of former Premier Benazir Bhutto has called for a countrywide protest on June 25 to press its demand for fresh elections and early restoration of democracy in the country.
A central executive committee meeting of the party late Saturday night dismissed an accountability court’s ruling against Benazir on graft charges as victimization at the behest of the government.
Party’s deputy secretary-general Raza Rabbani told a news conference the conviction was aimed at framing the PPP leader in fresh charges.
The party asked the United States to press Pakistan during American officials’ meeting with Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar on June 18 to restore democracy at the earliest and respect the fundamental rights of political opponents.
In a letter sent through the US ambassador in Islamabad, the PPP said that Sattar may speak of Islamabad’s so-called attempt to establish “genuine democracy” and may claim that the military regime is better than its predecessors but that is not correct, it said and added that Gen. Zia, Marcos, Pinnochet and Suharto also claimed to be good performers but left their countries in ruin.
The party alleged that the regime was weakening the civil structure by inducting a large number of military officers into the foreign service and into the federal and provincial governments.
For example, there are nine corps in the Pakistan Army but there are twenty-nine corps commanders who have been appointed on top slots.
The PPP complained that political meetings and rallies by pro-democracy forces were banned while conferences by extremist groups were facilitated by the government.
