ISLAMABAD, July 26: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has welcomed the decision of noted poet Ahmed Faraz of returining country’s top civil award to the government.

Your decision is a clear message to the dictatorship to look inwardly and to reflect on where it stands in the eyes of the citizens whose fundamental rights have been ‘trampled under the boots’, said the former prime minister in a letter to Ahmad Faraz.

Ms Bhutto in her letter wrote, “the manner in which you have taken a strong moral position in returning the award will make many feel proud.

It is most reassuring that you refused to be tempted by the trappings of illegal power that is based not on morality or constitutionalism but on the brute use of force and exploitation of the armed forces of Pakistan”.

Continued loadshedding criticised: Benazir Bhutto has expressed concern over the incessant loadshedding which she said was caused by ‘corruption and bad governance that has resulted in the neglect of power sector’.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson said she was concerned over the loadshedding in this hot and humid weather which had not only made the lives of people miserable but also led to closure of industries.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf in his address last week promised to end loadshedding in three years but failed to explain why he failed to redress the problem during the past seven years.

She asked the regime to explain why KESC was given to a group whose new owners reportedly had not even seen a power plant, let alone owning and operating it.

She recalled that the PPP government had added 7,000MW to national grid and ended loadshedding without which the economy would have crashed.

The promise made by Gen Musharraf of additional megawatts will prove as hollow as was his promise made on October 17, 1999 to end corruption horizontally and vertically.