Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto Tuesday accused the military government of using state funds to trigger a split in her party.
She said reports suggested that arrested members of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had been offered their freedom as a reward for doing the bidding of the regime in fictionalizing the party.
"Intelligence is paid for with state funds to protect the security of the country rather than weaken it through infiltrating political parties as part of its agenda to undermine democracy and with it development," she said in a statement received here.
Dozens of politicians and bureaucrats have been detained under draconian anti-corruption laws since military ruler General Pervez Musharraf seized power in a coup in October 1999.
Newspapers have speculated that efforts are underway to create a so-called PPP "forward block" to support Musharraf should he decide to become president.
Bhutto said state funds were being "squandered on illegal political activities at a time when people are hungry and jobless."
Bhutto, who lives in self-exile, has been planning to return home to mount a campaign for the restoration of democracy.
The Supreme Court last week set aside her April 1999 conviction for corruption and ordered a re-trial, but Musharraf has threatened to arrest her on other corruption counts if she comes back – ISLAMABAD (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
