London, Aug 16 : As a major surprise for the beleaguered Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto’s niece Fatima Bhutto has come out in his open support, saying that both PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif were enjoying power even without being a member of the National Assembly.

Fatima, who still strongly believes that Zardari was behind her father Murtaza Bhutto’s murder, further alleged that their coterie of advisers was also not elected to the National Assembly.

In her article ‘Charlatans of democracy’ published in the Guardian, Fatima trashed the democratic and moral credentials of both Zardari and Nawaz to impeach President Musharraf, saying: “Zardari is not an option. Sharif is not an option.

“But Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari are unelected. They’re not just unrepresentative in that they don’t hold seats in the parliament - they have absolutely no mandate in Pakistan. They head the two largest, and most corrupt, parties in the state but hold no public office. The rest of the coterie that wields power behind this administration, the attorney general and the interior minister for instance, also happen to be unelected. They serve, and I use the term ever so lightly, by appointment only. Some 170 million Pakistanis have lived under military rule of law for nine years. Musharraf stepping down from his army post has not changed that. Neither did the recent selections. Sorry, I meant elections, obviously,” the Dawn quoted her as writing in her article.

She said the current administration, a party coalition comprising two formerly mortal enemies, had enjoyed five months in office.

“And, what has this thriving democratic union accomplished? It passed the National Reconciliation Ordinance, an odious piece of legislation that wipes out 15 years’ worth of corruption cases against politicians, suspiciously covering 11 years of PPP and PML rule. Bankers and bureaucrats were also given the all-clear. Worse still, the ordinance contains a clause that makes it virtually impossible for future charges to be filed against sitting parliamentarians. But they must have done more than that, surely? Well, all that really changed is that food inflation has accelerated, oil subsidies have been cut, gas prices have doubled, and those pesky militants in the Swat district the tribal regions have turned up the fighting,” she added. (ANI)