A leader of exiled former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's party said President Pervez Musharraf's military regime is not holding elections, fearing an adverse verdict, and is removing opposition leaders through politically motivated charges.
"As far as former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her family are concerned, their assets are lawful... the military regime has not stopped talking about corruption. In fact the regime owes an apology to the people of Pakistan for lying to them and embezzling state funds", a spokesperson of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has recently said Bhutto will have "no role" in the country's politics if a Swiss court gives a verdict against her in a land sale case.
Rebutting the statement, the spokesperson said Bhutto's future was safe in the hands of the people of Pakistan whom she had served.
He claimed the government could not undermine Bhutto's standing before the people who could see through the military regime's conspiracy to eliminate the country's popular political leadership through politically motivated charges.
The spokesperson said the Musharraf government did not want to hold a general election to restore democracy in the country as it was frightened of the verdict of the people and was rigging elections and exploiting the war against terrorism to sustain its anti-people regime.
{{/usCountry}}The spokesperson said the Musharraf government did not want to hold a general election to restore democracy in the country as it was frightened of the verdict of the people and was rigging elections and exploiting the war against terrorism to sustain its anti-people regime.
{{/usCountry}}He said that there were several ministers in the government against whom there were allegations of corruption.
Ahmed himself was facing corruption allegations for having usurped state land by claiming that he would train Kashmiri freedom fighters there, the spokesperson claimed.
He said the PPP government was destabilised in 1996 by elements of the establishment, which wanted to pave the way for the Al-Qaeda to form a base in Afghanistan.
The same people now opposed the party's return because they believed it would stop the Taliban from destabilising President Hamid Karzai's government in Afghanistan.