BA Malik lashed out at the PPP for the way the case of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination was handled. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
It seems that the election season is becoming more like a season of disillusionment for the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) veterans, as former diplomat B A Malik ended on Saturday his 40-year association and joined Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
“I cannot continue with the present PPP led by President Asif Ali Zardari. This is no more the party it used to be during the time of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto,” Malik told The Express Tribune. His departure from PPP comes a day after 11 federal and provincial lawmakers joined the PML-N.
Former ambassador and chairman of PPP’s foreign affairs committee, B A Malik said, “President Zardari did not learn the lesson but Nawaz Sharif did and has become a mature politician.” He further said, “Nawaz deserves support of everybody.”
Responding to a question, he said that the basic thing which ended the four decade-long association and caused disillusionment was, “the party led by President Zardari ignored the rule of law and disobeyed decisions of the Supreme Court.”
He particularly lashed out at the PPP for the way the case of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination was handled. “PPP’s non-serious attitude to probe the murder of Benazir Bhutto has left me disillusioned,” Malik said. “They (rulers) have virtually swept BB’s murder under the carpet.”
Corruption was another cause for concern, he said. “All those who had allegedly committed corruption were rewarded with high positions,” he said.
According to him, the present PPP lacks democratic traditions and there is no place for real PPP workers and above all “the degree of uncertainty in the country hurts me more than anything.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2013.
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