Pakistan's Minister of State for Information Tariq Azim Khan has denounced PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto for criticising the present government, saying her regime was a "big disappointment" for the people who elected her twice as prime minister.
In the course of a letter published in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published on Wednesday, the minister also slammed PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif's record, saying he surpassed even her "worst type of governance."
Tariq Azim Khan was responding to a recent article by Ms Benazir in The Journal, a daily newspaper covering mainly financial and business-related developments, in which she argued for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan as a way to fight religious extremism.
"The people of Pakistan and its democracy are victims of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif because of their intrigues against each other and lust for power that precipitated the removal of their governments twice in 10 years," the minister said.
"They (Benazir and Sharif) could have strengthened the roots of democracy had they respected the mandate of the people and had allowed the elected government to complete its tenure. Alas, both applied the Machiavellian approach of the ends justify the means."
The minister pointed out that corruption charges, Ms Bhutto was facing in the UK and Switzerland were framed by Nawaz Sharif, whose 80-year-old father, he said, was arrested by Ms Bhutto on frivolous charges. "This clearly shows to what extent they were prepared to go in pursuit of power and survival, Tariq Azim Khan added.
He said, "The Pakistani people demonstrated their enlightened thinking when they for voted for Ms Bhutto twice as a woman prime minister in an Islamic country. But she proved to be a big disappointment by indulging in the worst type of governance and playing havoc with the public exchequer. "Nawaz Sharif surpassed even her when he froze 10 billion dollar in foreign currency accounts in 1998 to meet his government's exuberant expenditures.