Media leaks that the NAB has withdrawn a case against Benazir Bhutto as reported in a section of the Press today were aimed at creating a false illusion of a trade off between the regime and the PPP to create confusion amongst the people and to divide the opposition, PPP spokesman former Senator Farhatullah Babar said here.

"Not a single complaint against Ms Bhutto either in a domestic or a foreign jurisdiction has been withdrawn. Indeed not even the Interpol notice has been withdrawn", Babar said when asked by KT to comment on reports that the regime had withdrawn a case against Ms. Bhutto pertaining to the oil-for-food programme.

NNI news agency quoting NAB sources said the case of money laundering connected with the oil-for-food programme for Iraq pending with the Spanish authorities for investigation had been withdrawn by the Musharraf regime as part of its conciliatory gestures to woo Ms. Bhutto.

He said a game of "political illusions" was being played with a series of disinformation fed to the media by vested interests. Earlier, false reports were fed that the Interpol notices were withdrawn, that the Spanish lawyers were dismissed, and that the NAB had been disbanded. None of these reports were true although they received wide publicity.

The spokesman said millions of dollars of public money has been spent on politically motivated cases to deny Ms. Bhutto and the PPP a level political field with the MMA and ruling PML(Q).

He said the regime wanted to create the optical illusion that it could reach a settlement with the PPP in exchange for an end to the political vendetta. If this had been the case, the PPP would have accepted the offer in 2000 to go into exile for 10 years in exchange for the release of Zardari and end of cases.

However,the PPP rejected such offerings with its workers and leaders suffering as a consequence to keep alive the torch of democracy.

The PPP is fighting for the people to restore democracy, return military to barracks, undermine religious militancy and bring hope of happiness to the downtrodden people of Pakistan.

The PPP is opposed to a uniformed President, to re-election from the present Parliament and seeks a balance of power between the Parliament and the President, repeal of Presidential power to sack Parliament and ban on twice-elected Prime Minister.

He said that the PPP wanted an end to its political victimization that had caused loss to the national institutions and national treasury. However, to say that cases had been withdrawn was false or that PPP could come on board solely on cases was wrong, he said.

The government today confirmed reports that it had quit from the $ 150 million money laundering case against former premier Benazir Bhutto being investigated by the Spanish authorities, but denied it was done under any deal with her.

A spokesman for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said the bureau had done its job and provided necessary evidence to the UN and Spanish investigating agencies on their request. However, it withdrew as a civil party from the case which was primarily a Spanish prosecution and the Pakistan Government's exchequer was not going to benefit from the outcome of the case.

He said the case against Bhutto and her "conduits" (Rehman Malik and Hassan Ali Jafferi) in the oil-for-food programme was pending before a Spanish examining magistrate in Spain's province of Valencia on charges of money laundering since 2004. He added that the Pakistan Government was informed about the case and was asked for help in the Spanish prosecution.

He said in 2006, the NAB was informed by the United Nation's independent inquiry committee (UNIIC) about the involvement of Bhutto's company Petroline FZC in the scam. He said at the last hearing in May this year, the NAB informed the Valencia court that the bureau had done its job. He added that the prosecution in Valencia would continue and the next hearing would be held in June-July.

Islamabad, June 1
Pakistan TV channels aired scenes of “Veer Zaara”, the Bollywood movie in which an Air Force pilot was imprisoned in a Pakistani prison for a long period, as 14 relatives of Indian prisoners of war (PoWs) arrived in Lahore today to visit several jails hoping their kin who went missing in the 1971 war may be languished there.

In the next 14 days, the kin of the PoWs would be visiting prisons in different places, including Karachi, Sukkar, Multan, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Mianwali and Dargai

The relatives of PoWs were received at the Lahore airport by Indian diplomat Suresh K. Reddy and Pakistani officials.

Tomorrow, they would visit the Khot Lakhpath Jail, near Lahore, where Sarbajit Singh, the Indian prisoner, who has been sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in different bomb blasts in Pakistan is housed.

Sarabjit, who denied the allegations, has already filed a mercy petition to President Pervez Musharraf even though his review petition was still pending in the Pakistan Supreme Court in one of the cases.

In the next 14 days, the kin of the PoWs would be visiting prisons in different places, including Karachi, Sukkar, Multan, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Mianwali and Dargai.

Some of the Pakistan TV channels while highlighting the story have shown the scenes of “Veer Zaara” in which Sharukh Khan as IAF pilot languished in a Pakistani prison after falsely implicated as a spy.

Pakistan has already denied the existence of any Indian PoWs after an inquiry ordered by Musharraf.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said the visit had been allowed on humanitarian grounds to assuage the feelings of families who still believed that their kin continued to languish in prisons here.

The visit is coordinated by Pakistan’s interior ministry officials along with Indian diplomats.

Beijing, June 1
Police in Shanghai has detained a daring Frenchman after he scaled the Chinese financial hub's tallest skyscraper, the landmark 88-storied Jin Mao Tower.

Clad in a Spiderman costume, Alain Robert, who only weighs 50 kg, entered Jin Mao Tower at about 2:30 pm (local time) yesterday and started climbing, attracting thousands of spectators and bringing traffic to a grinding halt.

Managers of the tower had not been forewarned of the 44-year-old Frenchman's stunt.

To the astonishment of onlookers, Robert climbed right up to the 88th story before descending to the platform of the second storey where the waiting police arrested him, Xinhua news agency reported from the eastern metropolis.

Robert is well-known for his exploits. In 1996, he climbed the Far East Finance Centre in Hong Kong. According to media reports, it took him only 25 minutes to scale the 48 stories of the tower.

In 1998 he annoyed the Japanese police by climbing the Sinjuku Centre Building in Tokyo; and in 1999, he climbed the 443-metre high Sears Tower in Chicago.

Robert, who came to China on May 27, was expecting police to be waiting for him after his latest stunt. The Police sources say he will be held for five days, according to the Chinese law, and his stay in the country will probably be curtailed. — PTI