ISLAMABAD: Newly elected members of the People’s Democratic Alliance led by sacked Premier Benazir Bhutto Saturday refused to take oath and boycotted the inaugural session of the national assembly in protest against the caretaker government preventing Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari from attending the house.
Asif Zardari, lodged in a Karachi jail facing charges of financial manipulation, abduction and bank fraud, had been permitted by a special court to take his oath. Asif, 38, had won his national assembly seat from Karachi in the October 24 elections.
Bhutto in her new role as opposition leader, led the PDA walkout shortly before the oath taking ceremony was to commence.
Interior minister Zahid Sarfaraz assured the house that Asif Zardari would be brought to the house Sunday. He said demonstrations and rallies on the Babri Masjid issue in Karachi had created security problems and it was not possible to ensure his safe passage to Islamabad on Friday.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 9, 1990
