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Published 26 Jul, 2004 12:00am

PML issues 'fact sheet' about Benazir, Asif

ISLAMABAD, July 25: The Pakistan Muslim League on Sunday released a 'fact sheet' about the alleged corruption of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari and said that any effort to mislead the nation would not work.

Speaking at a joint news conference at the PML House, the information secretary and additional secretary-general, senators Tariq Azeem and Nisar A.Memon, referred to the recent sale of Surrey Palace, 'punishments' awarded to them by a Swiss court and reports published in foreign newspapers, saying that the couple had played havoc with the country's exchequer during their rule.

Tariq Azeem questioned a latest interview of Benazir Bhutto in which the PPP leader said she would be making another political comeback. He said it would be an attempt to sabotage what he termed a smooth transition to a democratic set-up in the country.

The senator accused the PPP chairperson of hatching conspiracies against the elected democratic government while sitting outside the country. Mr Azeem said the devolution of power at gross-roots level through local governments in the country was another great achievement of the Musharraf government.

International bodies had appreciated this promotion of democratic institutions and democratic culture in the country, he added. On the contrary, he alleged, the PPP leader during her rule fleeced the country. It was her government's corrupt practices that the country was rated on top in the world corruption directory.

When Benazir Bhutto left the government, the national exchequer was empty while she owned Surrey Palace in London which was furnished by sending an air consignment free of cost from the country in 1996. During the same period, the ruling couple had also sent abroad precious antiques stolen from the Lahore museum.

He said that if Benazir Bhutto refuted the reports published in the national press, she could not deny her own interviews in the foreign press in which she had confessed that Asif Zardari owned Surrey Palace.

The PML leader said that all court cases against Benazir Bhutto had been established during the tenure of Nawaz Sharif, but now both had joined hands against the present regime because of their common interests.

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