Islamabad
January 18, 2008: Pakistan
Peoples Party has welcomed
the call by US Speaker of
the House for international
probe in the assassination
of former Prime Minister
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and
for free and fair
elections in Pakistan.
Speaking of the house floor
Thursday Speaker Nancy
Pelosi citing "the
tremendous contribution of
Benazir Bhutto to the cause
of democracy", demanded
"strong international
investigation of this
despicable crime" and asked
the Bush Administration to
"continue to press the
Pakistani government to
ensure that the coming
election is free and fair".
Earlier Presidential hopeful
Senator Hillary Clinton had
also called a "full,
independent, international
investigation".
In a statement today
spokesperson of the Party
former Senator Farhatullah
Babar said that the Party
would tenaciously pursue
demand for a UN probe and
had already sent letters to
the UN Secretary General and
the five permanent members
of the UN Security Council.
He said that the UN had also
offered to hold
investigations if request
was made by the government
of Pakistan. It had also
called upon the world
community to help in
exposing "the organizers,
perpetrators and financiers"
of the assassination plot,
but the regime had declined
to accept the demand, he
said.
"The more the regime runs
away from UN probe the more
it strengthens the suspicion
that it was hiding
something".
Even if the regime refuses
to accept the demand the
Party will take up the
request with the UN when it
forms the government after
the elections, he said.
He said that the regime was
scheming to run away from
the polls if it could not
rig them.
The PPP welcomes strident
calls for free and fair
elections and for linking
U.S assistance to the
credibility of the plans for
transition to democracy, he
said.
Since 2001 the ten billion
dollars of assistance
received by the regime has
remained wrapped in secrecy
as dictatorship was
entrenched and democratic
institutions systematically
weakened, he said.
Speaker Pelosi also said,
"the best way the United
States can honor the legacy
of Benazir Bhutto is to
renew our engagement
directly with the people of
Pakistan"
The PPP has all along
maintained that there are
troubling questions about
the absence of monitoring of
assistance and whether it
has been used for fighting
terror or for suppressing
democracy and democratic
institutions in the country,
the spokesperson said.
