PPP’s 2008 govt was installed in Pakistan under US plan: Elahi

LAHORE: Former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi on Monday claimed that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government was installed in Pakistan in 2008 under a US plan.

“Condoleezza Rice (former US secretary of state) was behind the plan that led to People’s Party’s rise to power,” Pervez Elashi said while speaking in Geo News program ‘Jirga’ hosted by senior anchor Saleem Safi.

He said the former US official Richard Armitage had gone on record to say that the plan was knitted by former president Pervez Musharraf in collaboration with his aide Tariq Aziz.

To question in connection with the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Pervez Elashi said Baitullah Mehsud, the former chief of proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had ordered the assassination of Ms Bhutto.

"Benazir Bhutto had nominated me and others in a bid to build political pressure on my party [Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q)],” he maintained.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack on December 27, 2007 after she addressed a public rally at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi.