PPP parliamentarians resign

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 17: Lawmakers of Pakistan People's Party PPP have resigned en masse, vowing not to return to parliament without their ...

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 17: Lawmakers of Pakistan People8217;s Party PPP have resigned en masse, vowing not to return to parliament without their party chief Benazir Bhutto, who has decided to launch a country-wide agitation against the government for a 8220;conspiracy8221; to oust her from politics.

Condemning Nawaz Sharif government for attempting to oust Bhutto by a 8220;fabricated8221; corruption case, party MPs handed out their resignation letters to the party secretary general Choudhury Ahmed Mukhtar to be forwarded to the concerned authorities.

They said 8220;they would never return to the parliament without their leader.8221; Benazir, currently in London, and her jailed husband Asif Ali Zardari were sentenced to five-year prison by the Lahore high court in a corruption case on Thursday last. An emergency meeting of the central executive committee of the PPP yesterday said they would launch an agitation on April 20 in the wake of the Lahore high court verdict, followed by a sit-in demonstration in front of the parliamenthouse here.

Benazir had alleged that the judges were not partial and that the judgment was 8220;politically motivated.8221;

Spontaneous protests against the verdict by PPP activists were witnessed in different cities yesterday as large number of party activists hit the streets in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi shouting slogans the Sharif regime.

Meanwhile, today8217;s strike called by the PPP evoked a sporadic response amid tight security and police arrangement in various cities, particularly in Karachi.

Choudhury said the PPP would hold public courts against the government at the district levels, to be presided over by retired judges, to inform people about the lacunae in the provisions of justice being pursued by the present regime.

Story continues below this ad

Bhutto has been advised by the senior party leaders not to return home immediately in view of the government8217;s possible move to arrest her on arrival. Bhutto, in a statement from London said her conviction was a 8220;draconian8221; step and an attempt to take the countrytowards a 8220;dictatorship.8221;

8220;My conviction and detention is a draconian step towards a Sharif dictatorship in Pakistan,8221; she alleged, urging the international community to intervene. Benazir also said she would soon return to Pakistan and vowed that her party would not allow 8220;Sharif to succeed in creating a dictatorship.quot;