LARKANA, July 9: The chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (Shaheed Bhutto), Ghinwa Bhutto on Monday called for the restoration of constitution as it was in April 1973, as opposed to the Multi-Party Conference’s demand for the restoration of constitution as it was in October 1999 before military coup.

Ms Ghinwa said at a press conference at the Al-Murtaza House that the MPC failed to address real and genuine issues of people. The conference in London was for Londoners, it had nothing to do with people of Pakistan, she said.

Both Ms Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were cheating each other and each was cheating the army. “I am not a fortune teller but (this much I can say that) both the leaders are ready to strike a deal wherever they get a chance. They can do it even after elections or right now,” she said.

She ruled out any possibility of rapprochement with Ms Benazir Bhutto in future and said that she (Ms Benazir Bhutto) had come to power as a result of deals in past.

The governments of Ms Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Pervez Musharraf and even MQM had failed to deliver, Ms Ghinwa said, stressing that her party would fully participate in the upcoming elections even if they were held under Gen Pervez Musharraf.

However, she would not lend support to Musharraf if he wanted to get himself re-elected for five years more, she added.

To a question she said that Ms Benazir Bhutto had chosen the ‘Washington route’ to come to power while hers was a difficult route to travel. No government under the prevailing system could do anything in Mir Murtaza Bhutto's case and even she would not be able to do anything in case she came to power, she said.

About Lal Masjid issue she said that it was not new. Since General Zia's days rulers continued to finance and support it until 9/11 but after the incidents in Wana and Waziristan a ‘confrontational’ situation cropped up.

Ms Ghinwa demanded that the government should order an inquiry conducted into the large scale damages in Qambar-Shahdadkot district from heavy rains and ensuing floods. The damages could have been avoided if timely measures had been adopted, she said.

She alleged that the government itself let hundreds of villages and agriculture land of poor farmers get ruined in order to save fish farms owned by the friends of Gen Pervez Musharraf and Sindh chief minister, who did not allow to open the gates of main drain to drain out water into Manchhar Lake.

She referred to the ‘influential friends’ simply as Chandios and Jatois and stopped short of naming any particular person. It was not the end of calamities, there were more in store for people, she said and added that the state of affairs called for change of system.

The tragedy caused by heavy rains and floods was too big for political parties to handle as people had lost their homes, lands and everything worthwhile and had no hope for Rabi and Kharif crops. About 250,000 people had been displaced and Rs800,000 acres of land had been affected in floods, she claimed.