LAHORE - Only a day after the warm send-off given to the outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari at the Prime Minister House, PPP’s Secretary General, Latif Khosa came up with a severe criticism of the PML-N on Friday when he said at a seminar that PPP had accepted the fake mandate of the PML-N only to avoid yet another Martial Law.
“The PML-N government has done a PhD in rigging. It did not come into power by peoples votes. It was, rather, the product of a fake mandate.” he said while addressing a seminar held at Lahore Press Club to pay tributes to Asif Ali Zardari on completion of his five-year term as President.
Khosa said that PPP had accepted the election results with reservations only to avoid another Martial Law.
He alleged that Returning Officers had exchanged the actual ballot boxes with others already stuffed with fake votes.
The PPP leader also came down hard on the present judiciary and questioned its impartiality,stating that present courts would take numerous suo moto notices, but would not decide the Bhutto reference case.
He also took the occasion to censure former President General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf and held him responsible for the murder of party leader Benazir Bhutto. “While General Zia hanged Z.A Bhutto, Musharraf martyred his daughter Benazir Bhutto”, he remarked, adding, that authorities did not even allow post-mortem of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto which was a necessary legal formality.
Speaking on the occasion, President’s Coordinator, Navid Ch appreciated Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s gesture of giving a farewell to the President. He, however, said that PPP would continue to guide the PML-N government through positive criticism.
PPP ticket holder Barrister Amir Hasan said that with the retirement of Asif Ali Zardari on September 8, the number of civilian Presidents would exceed to those of the military Presidents.
He said that country had five civilian and an equal number of Military Presidents before election of President Zardari.
Lauding the national services of the outgoing President, Amir said that Zardari made history by his policy of reconciliation and restoring the Constitution to its original shape. He said it was for the first time that an elected President was leaving the Presidency handing over powers to another elected President as a result of a democratic process.
Other PPP leaders including Shaukat Basra, Maj. (Retd) Zulfiqar Gondal and Zahid Zulfiqar lauded the President for strengthening democracy in the country.