Murtaza Bhutto

and victimisation of the PPP continued we would invoke the option of
launching a movement against the government," she declared.
Ms Bhutto said she would file her own nominations from Larkana and Tando
Allahyar, although she gave the impression that the PPP could reverse its
decision if the politics of vendetta continued. She was confident that ultimate
victory would be hers and of the oppressed people. In the context of her
husband's detention, Ms Bhutto flayed the refusal to release him despite the
high court's decision declaring his detention unlawful, and said this indicated
how much the caretakers respected the judiciary.
Ms Bhutto alleged that despite the court's decision her husband was not
released because president had made it an issue of personal vendetta and ego.
She claimed that on instructions from the president house, FIA officials had
forced the SDM of Civil Lines, Tariq Khan Niazi, to record the statements of
11 arrested policemen in back dates. When he refused he was removed and
the job was now being done by another official posted in his place. The
former prime minister said she had intimated the chief justices of Pakistan
and the Sindh High Court and Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid about the alleged
conspiracy through a telegram. She said her husband was being implicated
the same way her father, the late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, had been sent to the
gallows. She said the detention of the former chief minister; Mr Shah too was
part of the same conspiracy. She said that the former chief of the KPT was
tortured to get a statement extracted from him implicating Mr Shah in a land
scam.
The deposed prime minister also referred to the resignation of Fakhruddin G.
Ebrahim as law minister who had described the amendments in the Ehtesab
Ordinance as improper. She said his reported statement clearly indicated that
the caretakers were not impartial and were in fact working on an agenda to
crush the PPP and the Bhuttos. She said there was a conflict in the cabinet on
the amendments and the country's economy was in a shambles. She feared
that the people of Pakistan would be subjected to harsh fiscal measures after
the return of Shahid Javed Burki from the United States.
Ms Bhutto again demanded the resignation of the president to pave the way
for a caretaker president and a caretaker set-up to be decided by mutual
consent of the two major political parties —the PPP and the PML(N)— to
oversee the next elections. Replying to a question, she said Makhdoom Amin
Fahim would not accept the office of caretaker prime minister because his
Murtaza Bhutto; Copyright © www.bhutto.org
286