Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians Introduction
Islamabad August 5, 2002: A spokesman of the Pakistan peoples Party has issued the following statement today.
The Pakistan Peoples Party has formed a separate entity called the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians to meet the requirements of the new decree passed by military dictatorship. This is being done to meet the requirements of the new decree passed forty-eight hours earlier after Pakistan Peoples Party unanimously elected former Premier Benazir Bhutto as head of PPP on July 28 2002.
General Musharaf admitted to corps commanders this April that Mohtarma would sweep the October elections and he did not want to be at her mercy. He said he was holding the referendum to avoid asking Mohtarma for the Presidency. He justified the Referendum to secure his own Presidency so that he could hold fair elections. However, he still continues to rig the elections. For that purpose, coup leader Musharaf passed a number of Benazir. specific laws to prevent Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto from contesting the forthcoming elections. However, PPP and Mohtarma are determined that she will contest the forthcoming elections.
The Musharaf regime passed a new absentee law. It then pressured three courts in a row to use that absentee law against Mohtarma although she was present in court through defense attorney. An appeal with regard to the wrong use of the absentee law by the three-pressured judges is before the high courts. Ever since the Chief Justice and half the Supreme Court were sacked, Pakistan judiciary operates in a climate of coercion and terror. The Pakistan Bar Council is on record through a resolution on the inability of the courts to function properly.
The Musharaf regime passed a second Benazir law asking all parties to register before the Election Commission in the hope that a new leadership could come up in the PPP. The PPP workers bravely resisted this move in a show of unity and solidarity unanimously re-elected key central office bearers. The PPP was thus eligible to be registered for election purposes with Election Commission.
The Musharaf regime passed a third law on August 2 after PPP concluded its elections on August 2. Under this law, the regime said that it would not register the PPP because its head was a leader against whom its first absentee law was passed even if the Party had under existing laws passed hurdle of the second decree ordering registration.
The Peoples Party will challenge this new law before the High court as violative of the Constitution and the Supreme Court order. Simultaneously, given the third new Musharaf decree designed to force Election Commission into returning PPP papers, many PPP workers were determined to contest the forthcoming elections as independents and stand by Mohtarma as the head of the PPP.
This new group will seek the support of the pro democracy forces as well as the workers of the Pakistan Peoples Party in the forthcoming elections. Since this is a new grouping, it will organize itself in the forthcoming year.
The Pakistan Peoples Party will continue as political Party with Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto as its elected Chairperson. All the workers of the PPP will continue to be in it.
However, after consultations with Mohtarma, it was decided that the PPP would form a separate entity for election purposes called the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians. This course would allow Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and the PPP to follow the judicial relief path while simultaneously meeting the requirements of law.
A group of leaders met in Islamabad today to form the PPP Parliamentarians. The aims of PPP Parliamentarians is to build a progressive and democratic society in accordance with the principles, philosophies and politics of Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Quaid e Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Quaid e Jamhooriyat Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto will the political guide of this new grouping although she will not hold an elective office in it. Makhdoom Amin Fahim was elected as the President of the new group and Raja Pervez Ashraf as the Secretary General. Its members will enjoy the blessings of Mohtarma and will seek inspiration from her.
“IF THINGS DO NOT CHANGE, THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT TO CHANGE. EITHER POWER MUST PASS TO THE PEOPLE OR EVERYTHING ELSE WILL PERISH. ZULFIKAR ALI BHUTTO”