Updated with PL reaction
The Nationalist Party reacted today to a jibe by Joseph Muscat that the Prime Minister had visited Muammar Gaddafi at the height of the Arab Spring, saying that 'Labour and Gaddafi were intimate bed fellows'.
Dr Muscat made his comment yesterday when he spoke to journalists while visiting a warehouse of the Civil Protection Department, where aid to the Libyan people is being collected.
The PN said it was disgusted by Dr Muscat's partisan comments during such a bi-partisan initiative.
"Far from politicising the conflict, the PN - never in cahoots with Gaddafi and his brutal regime - at the first visible signs of the Libyan 'Spring' six months ago immediately condemned the brutal ways and means employed by Gaddafi to try and silence the popular demonstrations against his regime. The PN had absolutely no problem in saying that Libya's biggest hurdle to democracy was Muammar Gaddafi," the PN said.
"On the contrary, it took Muscat's PL six months, and not before it was clear to all and sundry that Gaddafi had lost complete control of the country, that Labour finally broke its silence and expressed itself 'in favour' of the Libyan people and their quest for liberty. Why it took Labour so long to condemn Col. Gaddafi is simple: Labour and Gaddafi were intimate bed fellows," the PN said.
It urged the Labour leader to 'come clean' and explain in detail the 'intimate relationship' which Labour has had with the Gaddafi regime since the 1970s.
PN ASKED TO EXPLAIN 'INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP'
In a reaction, the PL said there was no need to remind anyone about who had boasted intimate relationship with Muammar Gaddafi only a few days prior to the Libyan uprising.
"Lawrence Gonzi and Eddie Fenech Adami honoured the dictator with the National Order of Merit in 2004, while the current PM had at least three meetings with Gaddafi in the last year, one of them complete with an 'all in the family' World Cup match viewing."
The PL pointed out that Dr Gonzi visited Libya this time last year, missing the President's annual charity fund raising event.
"The last Gonzi-Gaddafi meeting, complete with bear-hugs, was held well into the Arab Spring. During the February meeting Gonzi even invited Gaddafi to Malta in June 2011.
The PL said GonziPN should be honest with the Maltese people and explain the recent intimate relationship of Eddie Fenech Adami and Lawrence Gonzi with Gaddafi.
It added that at no time did the Leader of the Opposition make reference to politics during his short address yesterday. The part quoted by the PN refered to an answer Dr Muscat gave when asked by the independent media, after his address.