LARKANA: Sindh Senior Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, who is also provincial chief of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has said that the parliament and assemblies must complete their tenure so that people`s confidence in democracy in this country is restored.

Ruling out possibility of a national government to be put in place in the wake of the ouster of Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz chief Nawaz Sharif from the office of the prime minister under a Supreme Court verdict, Mr Khuhro said the PPP wanted the general elections to be held on time and was not linked to Mr Sharif`s ouster.

The senior PPP leader was speaking at a news conference at the local press club on Tuesday. PPP Larkana district president Abdul Fatah Bhutto accompanied him.

Commenting on the judgement given by an antiterrorism court in PPP co-chairperson Benazir Bhutto`s 2007 assassination case, Mr Khuhro noted that it containednothing about the then president, General Pervez Musharraf, except for confiscatinghis property. It neither called for seeking Interpol`s help in bringing Musharraf back to the country nor did it seek issuance of red warrants against him. Even the five accused who had confessed to their involvement were ordered to be released, he said, and added that seeking a review of the judgement was PPP`s right and it would pursue it.

He said Musharraf was running away from justice and it was the PML-N government which was responsible for his `escape`.

The PPP leader alleged that the PML-N gave Musharraf safe passage to flee the country.

Mr Khuhro also held Musharraf, along with [former Sindh CM] Arbab Ghulam Rahim, responsible for the October 18 Karsaz carnage.

He advised Mr Sharif to accept the SC verdict that disqualified him, and indicated that democracy was not derailed and there was no threat to the system either.

Mr Khuhro was of the view that democracyin the country had takenrootand peoples` confidence in it was growing. In the same breath, he condemned those politicians who had been linking democracy to`whistle blowers`.

He repeated the claim that Mr Sharif had received funding from Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden for his Islami Jamhoori Ittehad(IJI)inthelate`80s andthengotthe next general elections rigged. This inflicted trauma on democracy, he said.

Mr Khuhro also told reporters that the former prime minister was not yet cleared by the SC [vis-a-vis corruption and money laundering charges] as it had already sent three references against him to the National Accountability Bureau.

In reply to a question, he said he had no idea as to when Mr Sharif would return home [from London].

Replying to another question, Mr Khuhro said `gone are the days when democracy used to be ambushed with lightning actions`.

When asked about the possible rivals of PPP like the Larkana Awami Ittehad (LAI) in the next elections, he said PPP had always been ready to fight against such alliances, be it the one led by Mumtaz Ali Bhutto or the other one led by Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi.