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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| 'Benazir wants Pakistan at peace with itself and neighbours' |
| 2004-10-03 |
| Pakistan needs a democratic government so that it can be at peace with itself and its neighbours, Ms Benazir Bhutto said on Friday. In a message sent to the annual World Sindhi Conference organised by the World Sindhi Institute, the PPP leader who is currently on a lecture tour of the United States, called for fair and free elections in Pakistan under the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan so that the country could once again know tolerance, accommodation, rule of law and constitutional government. She castigated the regime in power whose lack of concern for the people's welfare had left them frustrated, forcing some to resort to self-immolation. There was no safety on the streets of Pakistani cities. It was the suicide bombers who were laying down the national agenda. There was acute water shortage and yet the regime was intent on building big controversial dams. The theme of the conference was military rule in Pakistan. She regretted that whereas there was no money in the state budget for the poor, there was no shortage of funds when it came to the armed forces. She said the rights of women had received big setbacks and they had gone back by a hundred years. She said the media was not free to report rampant corruption in high places and the corrupt had a free hand to fill their pockets. The National Accountability Bureau, she charged, was an "outfit of coercion." She pointed out that the Bureau had failed to take notice of the various complaints her party had lodged with it. She spoke about Asif Ali Zardari who had been in prison for eight years and although no charge had been proved against him, he was still not free. She said her party had been singled out for punishment. She named workers like Munawar Suhrawarday and Abdullah Murad, whom she called "martyrs", who had been liquidated. She said she was determined to continue her struggle for a better Pakistan because the PPP was wedded to federalism, democracy and egalitarianism. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #1 I wish Ms. Bhutto was the PM, I know she would have given free reign to the U.S. to come into Pakiland, to destroy the Al Queda. Then again, I don't why we are asking for permission anyway. When 3000 Americans are dead, to hell with the treaties. The northern Pakland villages are in the stoneage anyway. Knocking down the villages that are hiding Al Queda had got to be on "to do" list. Anyway, ain't nothing like a coup d'état to ruin progress. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2004-10-03 8:30:14 PM |