ID :
17627
Mon, 09/01/2008 - 09:21
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/17627
The shortlink copeid
Zardari purging P.P.P. of Bhutto confidants: report
London, Aug 31 (PTI) Pakistan's ruling Pakistan People's Party's Presidential candidate Asif Ali Zardari, who inherited the party's leadership after the assassination of his wife Benazir Bhutto, has purged it of the former premier's close confidants, a media report has said.
Party stalwarts, whom Bhutto had relied upon are angry at the way her closest aides have been humiliated and alarmed that her political legacy is being betrayed, The Sunday Times said in a report.
They are also outraged that some of Zardari's aides have
blamed Bhutto's most trusted advisers for her death, accusing
them of failing to protect her from the assassins who killed
her in a sniper and suicide bomb attack.
Naheed Khan, Bhutto's devoted political secretary and
inseparable friend for more than 20 years has been the target
of such accusations, they said.
Khan, who has been sidelined since the assassination, was
sitting next to Bhutto in a bullet proof Land Cruiser when the
leader was shot while waving to supporters through the
sun-roof. Khan cradled Bhutto's head on her lap before
realising she was dead.
Only four or five members of Bhutto's team have made the
transition to Zardari's camp, said former agriculture minister
and Bhutto adviser Nawab Yusuf Talpur.
"Most of the people trusted by Bibi are not trusted by
him. Benazir had a vision and the capacity to hold this party
together... Her legacy is not being handled in the way we
expected," Talpur said.
Bhutto was killed by an assassin's bullet as she waved to
supporters at an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27
last year, two months after her return to Pakistan following
an eight-year exile.
Zardari, who has been nominated as the P.P.P.'s
Presidential candidate for the September six poll has an edge
over Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate
Saeed-uz Zaman and Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid-e-Azam's
Mushahid Hussaid Sayed.
Questions have also been raised about Zardari's
suitability for the office after the Swiss government said it
was releasing his bank accounts containing USD 60 million
after dropping the charge of money laundering against him, the
report said.
"How can he explain that kind of money?" asked one Bhutto
aide. PTI HSR
Party stalwarts, whom Bhutto had relied upon are angry at the way her closest aides have been humiliated and alarmed that her political legacy is being betrayed, The Sunday Times said in a report.
They are also outraged that some of Zardari's aides have
blamed Bhutto's most trusted advisers for her death, accusing
them of failing to protect her from the assassins who killed
her in a sniper and suicide bomb attack.
Naheed Khan, Bhutto's devoted political secretary and
inseparable friend for more than 20 years has been the target
of such accusations, they said.
Khan, who has been sidelined since the assassination, was
sitting next to Bhutto in a bullet proof Land Cruiser when the
leader was shot while waving to supporters through the
sun-roof. Khan cradled Bhutto's head on her lap before
realising she was dead.
Only four or five members of Bhutto's team have made the
transition to Zardari's camp, said former agriculture minister
and Bhutto adviser Nawab Yusuf Talpur.
"Most of the people trusted by Bibi are not trusted by
him. Benazir had a vision and the capacity to hold this party
together... Her legacy is not being handled in the way we
expected," Talpur said.
Bhutto was killed by an assassin's bullet as she waved to
supporters at an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27
last year, two months after her return to Pakistan following
an eight-year exile.
Zardari, who has been nominated as the P.P.P.'s
Presidential candidate for the September six poll has an edge
over Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate
Saeed-uz Zaman and Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid-e-Azam's
Mushahid Hussaid Sayed.
Questions have also been raised about Zardari's
suitability for the office after the Swiss government said it
was releasing his bank accounts containing USD 60 million
after dropping the charge of money laundering against him, the
report said.
"How can he explain that kind of money?" asked one Bhutto
aide. PTI HSR
