ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) presidential candidate Mushahid Hussain Sayed yesterday accused Asif Ali Zardari of being neck deep in corruption and demanded that he withdraw from the Sept. 6 presidential contest.
Mushahid Hussain also said that Zardari was not fit for the highest office and cited an affidavit he filed in a money laundering case that expressed his inability to appear before a Swiss court owing to mental illness.
Britain’s Financial Times newspaper published a report this week suggesting Zardari, who spent 11 years in prison on various charges but was never convicted, suffered from mental illness.
Mushahid Hussain said that Pakistan was passing through a critical time and its president should be a noncontroversial person. He said he was ready for a live TV debate with Zardari.
Farahnaz Isphani, a spokeswoman for Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party, dismissed any suggestion Zardari would withdraw and also newspaper speculation some members of his party were recommending he pull out and focus on running the party.
Zardari, meanwhile, has moved into a tightly guarded government compound over security fears. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told reporters yesterday that Zardari was staying at a hilltop mansion in Islamabad’s government quarters “for security reasons.”
— With input from agencies
