Islamabad, June 25: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said today it had complained to the UN over drug charges against Bhutto's jailed husband.

In a letter to UN Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, the PPP accused President Pervez Musharraf's government of fabricating evidence against Bhutto's spouse Asif Ali Zardari. A statement from the PPP said the military-led anti-narcotics force had produced a notorious drug smuggler as a witness against Zardari and a PPP colleague, implicating them in a drug smuggling case.

The PPP alleged that the drug smuggler was forced to testify that Zardari and his friend Fauzi Ali Kazmi were partners in the narcotics trade from 1982-84.

Zardari, a former senator, has been in jail since 1996 on corruption charges. The PPP asked the UN to use its influence to "stop the perversion of justice."

Bhutto, who was twice Prime Minister of Pakistan, has been living in self imposed exile shuttling between Dubai and London since 1998.

Bureau Report