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The Rediff
Interview/Benazir Bhutto
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August 2005

Are we a
democracy?
Reality Check
Shafqat Mahmood
It would seem so with millions casting their vote in the second phase of
local polls. Yes, there are allegations of pre poll rigging particularly in
Sindh and Punjab. Police, it is said, has been used to harass ruling party
opponents and development funds are being freely distributed to help
officially backed candidates.
An atmosphere that suggests total control of the government over the
electioneering process has also been cleverly created specially in the
Punjab. The message is that without official support you can forget about
becoming a Tehsil or district Nazim. Apart from the Chief Minister, who has
used all the traditional tricks to strengthen this notion, intelligence
agencies have also been active in the background. This has convinced many
that if you want to get anywhere official blessing is a must.
No wonder then that many leading lights from the opposition parties are
lining up to join the Q party. This does not mean that they have suddenly
discovered the glory of General Musharraf or fallen in love with Parvaiz
Elahie. Only that, they just cannot bear losing control over local politics
in their constituencies. They are deserting their dearly loved but distant
leaders to rake in immediate benefits. As the old joke goes, "what is
nearer, God or a fist in the face." Apparently fist, or in this case local
power that is triumphing over old loyalties.
This manipulation of the electoral process is hardly democratic and would
lend credence to the allegation that we are not a democracy. Clever
apologist for the government, not any run of the mill mouthpiece, would
argue that we do not claim to be a perfect democracy. We have a long way to
go, they will say, but we are on our way. General Musharraf also uses a
similar formulation. He always says that we are on the road to becoming a
true democracy not that we already are a democracy.
Many in the West buy this. Not only because they need the General for the
war on terror but because they compare us with Burma or Saudi Arabia or near
anarchic African states such as Rwanda and Burundi. They see the
electioneering and people going to the polls and what appears to be free
comment in the press and they see democracy. But, as Asma Jehangir said on
the Hard Talk program of the BBC, we have a long history of struggle for
democracy. We would like to be compared to the best examples of it not to
military dictatorships or royal autocracies of the third world.
The debate whether we are or are not a democracy can only be credible if
some things are conceded straight away. We do have the appearance of a
democracy. There is no point in challenging this because to a casual
observer we have many of the forms that would constitute a democracy. There
is a parliament and a separate institution of the judiciary. Elections have
been held, twice for local government and once for provincial and national
assemblies. We are not obviously a single party state. This is important too
because generally dictatorships allow only one party to function.
The press appears to be free. There is a lot of criticism of the government
and open comment on whatever is going on. Even General Musharraf is not
immune from unfavourable remarks. His parent institution and the most
powerful force in the country, the Army, is also not a no go area. Many
critical articles about its corporate activities particularly about housing
schemes and land grants appear regularly in the press.
This pretty much looks like a democracy, albeit not perfect, to outsiders.
It is General Musharraf's success or the Army think tanks foresight that
before taking over this time, they clearly worked out the parameters of
military rule in the twenty first century. They obviously realised that the
draconian model of dictatorship pursued by Zia was no longer viable after an
eleven year interregnum of civilian rule, multi party democracy and a free
press. This time they decided on a unique model that has all the symbols of
democracy but in essence is a dictatorship.
Let us look at some of the elements that make us look like a democracy and
see whether they really are democratic. We have a parliament that is
universally recognised to be toothless, a rubber stamp or a worthless
debating society. One example of its meaningless role is the way the
military treats it. The parliament cannot discuss the defence budget and its
committees have been barred from discussing dodgy defence deals. It cannot
pass any legislation without the clearance of the army chief of staff who
also happens to be President. So much for the parliament.
The judiciary is indeed a separate pillar of the state but at the risk of
attracting the wrath of the honourable judges, it is hardly free and
independent. It shies away from taking cognisance of any matter that the
government does not want to be adjudicated. Petitions of Shahbaz Sharif are
an example. It has never ruled against the General or the military as an
institution. The ISI case is still pending in the Supreme Court after ten
years. It has also not ruled against the government on any matter in which
the government is seriously interested. This is the level of its
independence. No need to say anything more.
The press is indeed much freer than under any previous military government
and this is the greatest success of the military game plan. Nothing gives
the impression of freedom more than a vibrant press and there is little
doubt that we do have lively press. The reality is that behind the scenes
there is immense pressure on the editors to tone down criticism. There are
also no go areas. No one can write about the Generals financial dealings or
personal life and no one can write about corruption among the serving
military.
Every stratagem is used to get a press that is if not uncritical at least
within what are considered acceptable bounds. Those that have strayed out
have been punished. Government advertisements, which constitute a fair
portion of newspaper revenue, are routinely used as a weapon and lately even
private companies have been advised not to give ads to papers that are
writing anti government stuff.
Individual journalists are also being marked for action. One story on the
grapevine is that the Inter Services Public Relations or ISPR has a marking
system. Every article critical of the government is given certain marks with
higher marks on the negative part of the scale. If a writer crosses a
certain number he comes within the cross hairs and is marked for some action
or the other. I was once a victim of this system and others have also felt
the wrath in more ways than one. I also have a feeling that I am being
barred as guest speaker from government training institutions.
The beauty of this new model of dictatorship unfolded by the military is
that it gives the impression of being a democracy. In actual fact, it as
tightly controlled as any intelligent dictatorship would be. I use the word
intelligent not crude. It is an intelligent use of power if you create a
credible facade of democracy to hide a dictatorship.
The writer is a former member of parliament and a Lahore-based freelance
columnist.

200 Reports of Rigging
The Karachi Monitoring
Cell of the Pakistan Peoples Party received more than two hundred
complaints of rigging, ballot stuffing, occupying of polling stations,
eviction of Awam Dost polling stations, torture and manhandling of Awam
Dost supporters, arrests and detention of PPP leaders and workers. Some of
the incidents, which were promptly reported to the office of Acting Chief
Election Commissioner for action are. What action did his office took is
not known.
-
In Polling station
Talibul Maula Girls School, UC Hala 2, where Chief Minister’s armed
supporters opened fire on Awam Dost supporters when they tried to
prevent the former from illegally stamping ballot papers. Three Awam
Dost workers are wounded and already in hospital.
-
Armed persons of PML (F)
have attacked voters at polling station Rasool Bux Marri in UC Mohabbat
Wah, tehsil Kot Diji and have injured 4 voters. Polling staff or
security personnel have taken no action.
-
In Polling Station Walis Road, UC 2,
Sukkur, where armed gangs of the MQM have opened fire and wounded four
Awam Dost supporters in an attempt to prevent Awam Dost voters in that
station.
-
Armed persons belonging to PML (F) at
polling station Pir Bux Kerio, UC Khabar Rind, taluka Thari Mir Wah,
District Khairpur have attacked the voters and injured 3 persons.
Security agencies have not taken any action.
-
In UC 17, Taluka Latifabad, Sachal
Sarmast Colony, District Hyderabad, where weaponised gangs belonging to
the MQM, have been harassing Awam Dost supporters and the SSP Hyderabad
has been notified of the firing and violence in order to take action.
-
In Polling Station Qaim Khan Chandio,
Darya Khan Chandio, UC Kaddanh, District Badin, where the government’s
candidates’ have been firing indiscriminately on all Awam Dost
supporters to prevent them from voting. The firing was so heavy and
continuous that even the Presiding Officer of Qaim Khan Chandio has been
injured in this violence.
-
In Polling Station Primary School
Waleed, Girls School, Munawarrabad, UC 2, Larkana, where PML Q leader,
Pir Shah turned up with armed thugs and forcibly snatched all the ballot
papers in the station. The police looked on, tried to return the ballot
boxes, but they had been emptied by the armed men by then.
-
In Polling Station Talibul Maula
Girls School, Market Polling Station, Makhdoom Nooh Primary School, UC
2, Hala, where the governments’ allies attacked the Awam Dost
supporters, injuring eight workers and arresting 16 Awam Dost workers.
No FIR has been registered against the government supporters who
attacked the Awam Dost workers, but the victims have been arrested
instead.
-
Fake
Identity Cards without any address are being used in UC Puranoabad,
tehsil Bakrani, district Larkana for voting. Presiding officers are
taking no action to stop these voters.
-
Presiding officer at polling station
Keher village, UC Dhamra, taluka Larkana is allowing voting on the basis
of residence certificates and photocopies of identity cards, which is
against the law.
-
Two burqa clad male workers of the
government party entered the ladies polling at polling station Lal
School, UC 4, Sukkur and were apprehended by the voters. These burqa
clad males were handed over to the police who released them at a safe
distance from the polling station.
-
There are confirmed reports that 500
Mutahhida workers from Karachi have gone to Sukkur in Government of
Sindh transports which are flying Mutahida flags. These persons are
fully armed and are invading polling stations and stamping bogus vote
under the full protection of Sukkur police. A group of these persons
invaded polling station Deaf and Dumb School Bunder Road at around 12’o
clock and made the polling staff hostage. They cast bogus votes under
full protection of local police. They are roaming freely in government
transports all over the city.
-
Respected mother of PML (Q) Nazim
candidate Khurram Leghari has been posted as presiding officer at
polling station Bhitai Nagar, UC 2, Qasimabad. Most regretfully she is
indulging in large scale rigging in favor of her son.
-
In Polling Stations 14, 15, 16, UC
Hala 1, where the Electoral Lists of 2001, or 2002, are not being
accepted. In their place, new additional lists have been produced and
all checking and polling has been taking place outside the polling booth
by the police and Rangers.
-
Ladies were not allowed to vote at
polling station Middle School Bahu Khan UC Bahoo Khan Pathan, Matiari 1.
Polling agents were thrown out by force. Awam dost supporter Urs Soho
has been greiviously injured. In another polling station of this UC
namely, Primary School Dahila, same situation has prevailed where ladies
polling agents have been thrown out and voters have been prevented from
voting. Large scale stamping of ballot papers in favor of
government candidates is going on at both the polling stations.
-
In
Polling Station Alliabad, UC Madhbahu, Taluka Bakrani, District Larkana,
where the Awam Dost candidates and polling agents are not being allowed
to sit in the polling station by local officials backed by Minister
Altaf Unnar, who is openly sitting in the polling stations.
-
In Polling Station Haji
Hakim Zaur, UC Saeed Matho, District Tando Mohammed Khan, where the
polling staff has been diverted so that polling cannot begin. This is
being done to wipe out the votes of Awam Dost supporters, as they are
the ones expected to poll 80 % of the votes in the area.
-
In Polling Station
Mohammed Ali Zaur, UC Lakha, District Tando Mohammed Khan, where the
police is harassing Awam Dost supporters and preventing polling staff
form conducting polling. The candidate has registered a serious protest
with the local DRO, but valuable polling time has been wasted
deliberately by government officials.
-
In Polling Station Babbar, UC
Jalalani, Khairpur, where Awam Dost supporters have been fired upon, and
voters are being denied the right to vote after 400 ballot papers have
already been caught as illegally stamped.
-
In UC Kothi Kalhoro, Taluka Larkana,
where voters whose names are not on the Voters List are being allowed by
the Presiding Officer to cast their vote, while Awam Dost supporters are
not being allowed to enter the polling stations by government officials.
-
In Polling Station Girls High School,
UC Bhanhn Saeedabad, District Jamshoro, where the DSP Sehwan, Usman
Malik, is going into the polling booths and openly facilitating the
polling for a candidate, Roshan Burio, and they are misbehaving with
Awam Dost women candidates to prevent them from casting their votes.
-
In Polling Station Mohammed Ali Zaur,
UC Lakha, District Tando Mohammed Khan, where the DCO and DPO have
personally entered the polling stations and forcibly removed the Awam
Dost polling agents themselves. The DRO and ARO have been duly notified,
but by 12.20 pm no action had been taken.
-
In Polling Station Sobo Khan Chandio,
UC Ghulam Shah Bagrani, District Tando Mohammad Khan, where the Awam
Dost polling agents have been abducted and taken away to prevent Awam
Dost supporters from casting their votes. The abducted agents’ names are
Anwar Rind, Hashim Kumar, Alnawaz Bakrani, Hadi Bux Bagrani, Salma
Bagrani, Fatima Kumbhar, Amna Kumbhar, Mundham Rind. Their vehicles have
also been taken away.
-
In Polling Station Girls School, UC
1, Matiari, where local MPA, Jalal Shah Jamote, is sitting inside the
polling station with the full support of the DPO, who is assisting in
the disenfranchisement of women’s voters.
-
In Polling Station Sachal Sarmast
Colony, Latifabad Taluka, UC 17, Hyderabad, where a van-load of armed
men fought with our naib-nazim, Pervez Bihari, and took over the polling
station to stamp the ballot papers in favour of MQM candidates. The van
was openly carrying MQM flags on it as well.
-
In Polling Station Zubaidah College,
UC 1 City Hyderabad, where the MQM’s armed supporters have taken over
the polling stations and forcibly stamped ballot papers in their panel’s
favour.
-
In Polling Station Noor Mohamed High
School, Polling Station Madina Masjid, Srighat, Pollling Station,
Madrasutul Binaat, UC 4, Hyderabad City, where armed gangs of the MQM
have enetered the polling stations and are stamping ballot papers
forcibly in favour of their candidates.
-
Armed Mutahhida (MQM) workers have
captured Polling stations 8 and 10 in UC 5, Latifabad and are busy in
bogus voting on a large scale.
-
Polling station Bagh Bhatti polling
station Gujrati Para and polling stations 1 and 3 of UC 15, Latif abad
have been taken over by armed person of MQM who are indulging in bogus
voting on a large scale.
-
MQM, MPA Arshad Shah accompanied
with armed workers has occupied polling stations Mirza Qaleech Baig and
polling station Hashmat Bano, UC 2, Hyderabad City and are stamping
bogus votes.
-
In Polling Stations Bachal Shoro,
Ganjo Takkar, Hatthar, Bihar Colony, UC 17 Latifabad, District
Hyderabad, where the MQM’s armed gangs have entered the polling stations
and are forcibly stamping ballot papers in their candidates’ favour.
-
In Polling Station Thari Chutto, UC
Kothi Kalhoro, District Larkana, where the Awam Dost polling staff and
polling agents were held hostage by the CM’s supporters. After that 1100
votes were forcibly stamped by the armed group of men over the next
three hours, while the police looked the other way.
-
In Polling station UC
Allah Yar Turk, the Shah Karim Bhulr SHO, has arrested 24 Awam Dost
supporters at 3 am last night in order to reduce polling day numbers and
resources for the Awam Dost candidate.
-
In Polling Station Bindo Khan
Mohammed, UC Kot Mir Mohammed, Disrict Khairpur, where the Awam Dost
Nazim, Asad Narejo, has been arbitrarily arrested and locked up to
prevent polling in his favour.
-
Rana Arshad an MQM candidate resorted
to aerial firing in UC-16, Hyderabad and then occupied the polling
station and were stuffing the ballot box but the Rangers and police
arrested father and brother of Awam Dost Nazim candidate Manthar Ali
Jatoi.
-
Armed men along with Irshad Shah,
Prof. Khalid Wahab raided the polling stations of UC-4, Hyderabad
took over the polling stations and were stamping the ballots. The police
arrested Jeeando Soomro, the Awam Dost Nazim candidate for protesting
against the rigging. In UC Naseer Faqeer Jalalani, Taluka Kot Diji awam
dost candidate for nazim Mr. IMtiaz Mallah was attacked and badly beaten
up. Also beaten up were cameramen of a local channel, representatives of
print media and also some policemen when they tried to protect the media
people Large scale stamping of ballot papers in favor of government
candidates is going on all over the place.
-
MQM leader Aslam Pervaiz advocate
accompanied with armed workers of MQM has captured polling station Allah
Bux Brohi Goth, UC 16, Lateefabad. Stamping of ballot papers in favor of
government candidates is going on in full swing.
-
Rana Arshad an MQM candidate resorted
to aerial firing in UC-16, Hyderabad and then occupied the polling
station and were stuffing the ballot box but the Rangers and police
arrested father and brother of Awam Dost Nazim candidate Manthar Ali
Jatoi.
-
Armed men along with Irshad Shah,
Prof. Khalid Wahab raided the polling stations of UC-4; Hyderabad took
over the polling stations and were stamping the ballots. The police
arrested Jeeando Soomro, the Awam Dost Nazim candidate for protesting
against the rigging.
-
In UC Mohia. Polling Station Sobho
Khan Chandio the ladies polling agents have been kidnapped by the
supporters of the Government supported candidate and the ballot papers
are being stamped freely.
-
In UC Nazeerpur, Polling Station
Juman Bahrani the agents of the Awam Dost candidates have been kidnapped
and ballot papers are being stamped freely.
-
In UC Zair, Polling Station Yousaf
Hagani, Taluka Hala, the said Station was attacked by the supporters of
the Government supporters backed by the police. The Station is in the
control of the same and stamping of the ballot papers is taking place.
-
In UC Tajpur, Taluka Hala, the said
Station was attacked by the supporters of the Government supporters
backed by the police. The Station is in the control of the same and
stamping of the ballot papers is taking place.
-
In UC 1 Tando Mohd. Khan City,
Polling Stations Yar Mohd. Kandra, Barrage Colony and WAPDA Grid Station
the supporters of Mir Anyat Talpur, a leader of the PML (Q) attacked the
said the stations and in the firing that followed 8 workers of the Awam
Dost candidate have been injured with bullet wounds.
-
In UC Nazeerpur, Polling Station
Allah Rakhio Chagsi the lady polling agents of the Awam Dost candidates
have been manhandled and thrown out of the polling station.
-
The Q-League supporters snatched
1,500 ballot papers from Polling Station Anaj Mandi in Tando Mohammad
Khan city UC-3 and Awam Dost complained to the Ranger who arrested the
culprits from the residence of Mir Ali Nawaz Talpur, Advisor to Chief
Minister.
-
Awam Dost Hari/Peasant candidate
Budho Panhwar was attacked by Q-League supporters in UC Kario Genhwar at
Polling Station Abdul Karim Nizamani Primary School.
Released by
Media Cell Bilawal House
6:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 25, 2005

Administration involved in rigging in Rawalpindi and Gujar Khan
Islamabad, August 25, 2005: Pakistan
Peoples Party lodged complaints regarding election rigging, arrest of Awam
Dost Candidates and their supporters in Rawalpindi and Gujar Khan area with
the Election Commissioner on election day.
Kamran Zafar, the member of PPP Monitoring Committee for local bodies
elections faxed a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner detailing ten
instances of rigging and victimisation of Awam Dost Candidates, wrote:
"1. In Union Council 26 Rawalpindi City, Mr. Asad Mughal, candidate for Naib
Nazim was arrested by the police without any valid reason.
"2. Similarly in Union Council 70, Mr. Nasim Abbasi, candidate for Nazim was
detained unlawfully for almost three hours, in the morning, today.
"3. Union Council 36, Polling Agents of Awam Dost Group were not allowed to
be present in the Polling Station, enabling the opposing candidate to
indulge in bogus polling with the connivance of the local administration.
"4. Union Council 52, Ward No. 7, Gujar Khan, located at the Vocational
Training Center, an unprovoked attack was made by the hooligans of the PML
(Q) on the Polling Station to scare away the voters and supporters of the
Awam Dost Group.
"5. similar scene was created by these hooligans at Union Council "Doltala".
"6. may be pointed out that the Voters list at Union Council 92 to the
Presiding Officer was different from the one provided to our candidate.
"7. "Mujahid", "Chontra", at Union Council 6 "Abdal", the polling staff did
not arrive until 11:30 a.m. delaying the polling by two and a half hours.
"8. At Union Council 6, "Dhoke Hasso", Rawalpindi City and Union Council 9 "Bangash
Colony", Rawalpindi City, ladies were not permitted to vote.
"9. Union Council 46, Rawalpindi City, the ballot boxed at the polling
stations were not found to be sealed.
"10. "Dhoke Tehsildar", "Badana", Gujar Khan, where Ch. Iftikhar is the
candidate for the office of Nazim, his agents were driven away from the
polling station. The Presiding Officer has been informed about the
incident."
He asked the Election Commissioner to immediately take notice of these
actions of rigging.

Opp has won 50% seats
in Lahore and Pindi: Benazir
LAHORE: Pakistan People’s
Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto said on Friday that despite massive
rigging the opposition had won 50 percent of the seats in Lahore and
Rawalpindi during the second phase of the local council elections.
Speaking to Geo news channel from Dubai, Benazir said that torture and
harassment of opposition candidates and government intervention was rampant
during the polls.
She alleged that the Sindh government had harassed and attacked Awam Dost
candidates and had changed the election results in their favor.
Asked whether the government would dismiss rigging allegations and get to
business as usual, Benazir said the government might possibly dismiss
rigging allegations, but government affairs would not be normal, as the
post-poll situation would worsen.
She said matters could not be run through fake tactics and foreign pressure
against the government on rigging was in the offing. She said the nation’s
true leaders had been sidelined whereas President Pervez Musharraf and his
government machinery had been running the election campaigns of the
candidates they supported.
Asked why foreign observers had not pointed out or criticised the alleged
rigging during the polls, Benazir said, “It is too early at the moment.
These elections will be discussed seriously later. Foreign governments are
analysing the polls and you will see a big difference during the next
general elections.”

PPP activist killed
in Karachi
KARACHI: An office-bearer
of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) district Thatta was killed in Thatta on
Friday when he was on the way to his house after attending a party meeting.
According to a press statement issued by the media cell of Bilawal House,
the party activist, Haji Qasim Samoon, hailing from Tehsil Mirpur Sakro, was
killed by supporters of a rival group.

PPP threatens protest if fresh
polls not held
KARACHI: Accusing the
Sindh government and the Election Commission authorities of involvement in
rigging, the opposition PPP has announced that the party would be launching
protest demonstrations all over the province from August 31 if the demands
for fresh elections, release of arrested party leaders and workers, and
withdrawal of cases were not accepted.
The Sindh PPP President Syed Qaim Ali Shah announced the protest plan at the
Bilawal House at an urgent press conference held on Saturday and said that
the party would hold rallies and public meetings to protest against the
rulers and to press their demands.
He invited the other component parties of the Alliance for the Restoration (ARD)
and the participants of the All- Parties’ Conference to join this protest in
the larger interest of democracy and for the country.
Qaim Ali Shah said that that the PPP would hold protest demonstration on
August 31 in Karachi, on the 1st of September in Sukkur, 2nd of September in
Larkana, 3rd of September in Mirpurkhas, and the 4th in Hyderabad against
the rigging in the local bodies election.
The PPP leader said that the party would review its strategy and chalk out a
future line of action on September 5 when the third process of the local
bodies election starts for the election of towns, Tehsils, and districts.
He said that the PPP was the main target in this election and declared that
the party would tackle this situation politically. He expressed
apprehensions of rigging of the third phase of the election and accused the
rulers of manipulating the exercise to elect Nazims of its choice.
The PPP leader said that police were conducting raids on the residences of
the elected Awam Dost Nazims to pressurise them to switch loyalties. He
claimed that in Karachi and in the rural areas all the SHOs were assigned
the task of forcing five opposition councillors to switch loyalties. He said
that police had started hounding the opposition councillors while the
government contractors were also assigned the task of purchasing the
councillors for the ruling parties to facilitate more contracts in the
future.

PPP-P leaders visit winning
candidates
RAWALPINDI -
Pakistan People’s Party leaders Sunday visited the residences of their
successful candidates in Rawalpindi and greeted them on their success on
behalf of the Party Chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto.
On Sunday morning Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians MNAs Nahid Khan
and Zamurad Khan advocate, PPP leader from Rawalpindi Aga Riazul Islam,
Rashid Mir, Baji Nusrat, Haji Saleem Mughal, Mian Khurram Rasool and other
leaders visited the residence of their successful candidates in Ratta Amral,
Dokh Ratta, Dokh Mantkal Dokh Hassu and other parts of the city where Awam
Dost candidates won the elections.
These leaders presented sweets to the successful candidates and greeted them
on behalf of the party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto who termed the victory of
these candidates as victory of democratic forces in the country.
Talking to party workers and activists during these visits Nahid Khan and
other leaders said that dictatorial forces failed to squeeze the popularity
of Pakistan People’s Party and made it clear that they would not bow to the
forces of oppression and would continue their struggle for establishment of
true democratic rule in the country.
These leaders expressed optimism that like in the first two phases the
candidates of Awam Dost Group and joint opposition would manage to get their
candidates elected on the slots of Nazims and Niab Nazims at district and
tehsil level.
These leaders came down hard on the ruling party which had broken all
records of rigging and used all state machinery to get the engineered
results but as the overwhelming majority was behind the true democratic
forces these people failed could not fully succeeded in their nefarious
designs.
Nahid Khan demanded of the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of
killing of some 60 persons blatant violation of code of conduct by the
ruling party backed candidates, kidnapping of opposition party members and
life attempts on the opposition leaders and member parliaments.
She said that a judicial inquiry into the whole affair should be held under
the supervision of a Supreme Court of Pakistan judge and those who had lost
their lives in the elections related violence should be given compensation.

Why Sarabjit Singh must not be
hanged
Farhatullah Babar
After meeting General Musharraf on Tuesday Foreign Minister
Khurshid Kasuri told The News "if a mercy petition (for the convicted Indian
Sarabjit Singh alias Manjit Singh) comes then the President will decide on
merit."
Since the country's apex court has given its verdict on August 18 upholding
the death sentence it is no use arguing over the legalities involved.
However, some judicial verdicts do invite a sharp public comment even for
long after implementation. Sarabjit Singh's case seems to fall in this
category whether he is pardoned or not, although clemency may perhaps blunt
the sharp edges of the public comment.
Clemency is called for whether seen from the perspective of circumstances of
the case or reliance on Sarabjit's confessions or claims to nab enemy
agents.
Take the circumstances. In August 1990 one Sarabjit Singh of village
Bikhiwind in the Amritsar district of Indian Punjab went missing. The family
was clueless as to where he had gone.
On August 30, 1990 Pakistan's border security forces in Kasur in the Punjab
arrested an India national for trespassing. That was a time when the media
routinely talked of Pakistan's covert operations in Indian Kashmir and India
responding to it by sending agents provocateurs in Sindh and Punjab.
The Indian was taken into custody and grilled. He was identified as Manjeet
Singh, an agent of RAW and charged with masterminding a series of bomb
blasts in Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan.
Within a week he was produced before a magistrate on September 8 for
recording his confessional statement. According to the prosecution Manjeet
Singh had admitted to his involvement in all the bomb blasts. He also
confessed to have joined RAW in 1987, when he received special training in
bomb making, made a fake Pakistani ID card in the name of Khushi Muhammad
and visited Pakistan fourteen times in different years. He also supposedly
confessed that for each blast RAW paid him eight to ten thousand rupees.
He was tried in an anti terrorism court which convicted and sentenced him to
death on five counts on the basis of his confession. The conviction was
upheld by the Lahore High Court.
From his death cell he appealed to the Supreme Court claiming that he was
not Manjeet Singh who had been brought up in Agra and whose family later
moved to Amritsar in 1972. He claimed he was Sarabjit Singh of Amritsar. The
prosecution had forced him to admit to a wrong identity, he claimed. The two
member bench of the Supreme Court last week however dismissed the appeal and
upheld the death sentence.
Meanwhile Sarabjit Singh's family who has been missing since August 1990 and
who lived in Amritsar has claimed to have proof including birth certificates
and identification cards showing that the accused is Sarabjit Singh and not
Manjeet Singh. The family has appealed to the leaders in Pakistan and India
and to the human rights bodies for help. His teenage daughter Swapandip has
threatened that the family will commit suicide if he is hanged.
There is no doubt that a confession in accordance with proper procedure
forms a legal basis for convictions. But it is worth pondering whether
convictions on the basis of confession alone should be the prime candidate
for clemency. It is important because the history of confessions and the
history of claims made by security agencies of nabbing enemy agents make a
painful reading.
Remember the high profile murder of Hakim Muhammad Saeed in Karachi in the
90's and the confession of one Amirullah before the journalists and also
before the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The Prime Minister was so impressed
with the prosecution's story and Amirullah's confession that he ordered a
promotion out of turn for the police officer superseding some forty senior
officers. Later, however, Amirullah turned out to be innocent.
Or take the claims by security agencies of nabbing enemy agents. On June 5,
1992 nine people were killed in Tando Bahawal near Hyderabad in Sindh in an
encounter with security forces. The initial official reaction was that those
killed were dacoits. Within hours the official news agency APP retracted its
earlier story and claimed that those killed were not dacoits but terrorists
who wanted to blow up a nearby thermal power station. The ISPR also endorsed
the APP story saying that the terrorists had a cache of arms including hand
grenades and guns.
The Prime Minister who was visiting Sindh was given a briefing before the TV
cameras on how RAW agents had been killed. Senior military and intelligence
officers were present at the briefing. A beaming Prime Minister smiled
triumphantly and there was a prolonged applause over the daring action by
vigilant security forces.
The local Sindhi press and the BBC were however suspicious and refused to
accept the official version. They insisted that far from being agents of RAW
the nine villagers were actually innocent and unarmed tenants of a local
landlord who had been killed in a mock encounter at the behest of an
opponent of the landowner.
At first those who pedaled this story were dubbed as anti-state and
anti-Army. Later, however, the then Army Chief, in a decision to place him
and the institution of the Army on a high moral pedestal, refused to cover
up the incident and decided to investigate the matter.
An inquiry revealed that the nine people killed were poor haris aged 16 to
60 who were woken up early morning, shoved into vehicles and whisked away to
a deserted water pump of the thermal power station Jamshoro, where they were
lined up, and shot dead in cold blood at the behest of rivals of the local
landlord. Those involved were tried and punished.
The point to make is that while confessional statements before a court may
have legal value, the circumstances and the manner in which they are secured
also needs to be probed. Another point is that those accused as enemy agents
by our agencies have actually turned out to be poor haris.
Justice Khuda Bukhsh Marri in his book, A Judge may Speak, has lamented
about how a 21 year young student leader Abdul Hamid Baloch was executed in
the late 70's on conviction of murder by a military court. The name of the
deceased victim was twice changed besides many other irregularities in the
trial process, according to Justice Marri. The Balochistan High Court had
stayed the execution but Hameed Baloch was executed speedily and summarily.
Justice Marri finds it hard to come out of the trauma of execution of a
young man in a case involving mistaken identity of the deceased victim.
If the Indian convict is really a case of mistaken identity it would be a
gross miscarriage of justice if he is hanged and many will not be able to
come to terms with the trauma. If the convict is really the alleged RAW
agent Manjit Singh it would still be sensible to commute the death sentence
as a unilateral step to break clean with the past when the two countries
launched covert operations inside each others territories.
After all General Musharraf called for an end to that legacy when he
declared on January 12, 2002 that there will be no cross border
infiltration.
The French hated the Jews at the turn of the last century. Yet as a people
they stood by a Jewish Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus when writer Emile Zola's
description of the Dreyfus Trial revealed it as no less than a national
embarrassment. We may have serious differences with Indians but it must not
persuade us to hang every Indian at the drop of a hat. The Sarabjit Singh
trial must not be allowed to become our national embarrassment as was the
Dreyfus Trial in France. He must not be hanged.
The writer is a PPP Senator and member of the Defence Committee of the
Senate.

PPP files complaints
against Major Tahir Sidiq
Islamabad, August 23, 2005:
Pakistan Peoples Party apprised the Chief Election Commissioner of
the incident of indiscriminate firing by the supporters of Major Tahir Sadiq,
former district Nazim Attock and borther in law of Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain
at the main election office of the Awam Dost Group at Lari Adda Chaowk on
Tuesday 23rd August.
Member PPP Central Monitoring Cell for the local bodies elections, Kamran
Zafar in a letter, addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner apprising
him of the incident, wrote, "These supporters indulged in the worst kind of
"Goondaism" and intimidation with the result that the people have been
scared beyond description. All these ruffians earlier on staged a similar
show in the stadium of "Fateh Jang" also and vowed that they will see to it
as to how the Awam Dost supporters polls their votes on the 25th instant.
The people of the area are now demanding the deployment of army in the area
to prevent any bloodshed, since the police have so far behaved as passive
spectators."
Kamran Zafar demanded of the Election Commission to have very close vigil in
order to ensure smooth and orderly election in Attock.

Naheed Khan warns
Administration not to indulge in rigging efforts by the King’s party
Islamabad, 24 August 2005: Naheed Khan
MNA, the political secretary of the chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has appealed to all democratic people to come out on
25th August and vote for Opposition candidates so that the nefarious designs
of the rulers are defeated who want to foist one party rule in the country.
Naheed Khan in a statement said that the country is passing through a very
difficult stage and it has become necessary to defeat the forces of
dictatorship in the country. A regime, which failed to provide basic
necessities to the people, also failed to find enough candidates to field in
all the Rawalpindi constituencies. "The party is a clear winner in
Rawalpindi and the next Nazim in the city will be from Pakistan Peoples
Party who will work for the betterment of the people", she said.
Naheed Khan said that despite massive pre-poll rigging in the first phase of
local bodies elections, the people of Pakistan displayed political maturity
and voted for Awam Dost and other opposition candidates. The success of
opposition was so clear that the regime had to resort to its old tactics of
changing results overnight and declare King’s party and its ally’s
candidates as winners. Naheed Khan said that the people have the right to
reject all those results, which do not represent their choice.
She warned the administration to restrain itself from obeying illegal orders
and indulging in rigging activities by the King’s party. She said that all
those officials found involved in helping rigging activities will be held
accountable and would be punished.

Naheed Khan
asks the Election Commissioner to declare elections null and void in the
areas where women were disenfranchised of their basic right to vote
Islamabad, 22 August 2005: Naheed Khan
MNA, the political secretary of the chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has asked the Chief Election Commissioner to
immediately declare the elections null and void in the areas where women
were not allowed to exercise their basic right to choose their own
representatives.
Naheed Khan said that the statement of the Chief Election Commissioner that
the elections will be declared null and void if it is proved that women were
barred from voting in any part of the country is just an eye wash because
what more proof he needs to declare these elections null and void when there
are several constituencies in NWFP and Punjab where not a single woman vote
was cast. She said that no one has the right to insult women intelligence by
saying that no women wanted to vote in certain areas in the name of
tradition. She said that this would be the worst kind of male chauvinism if
someone tries to make us believe that women did not want to vote and they
were not pressurised.
"The male prejudice shown in certain parts of NWFP has the domino effect and
in different parts of Sargodha and Multan in Punjab where women were stopped
from exercising their right to vote which is despicable act on the part of
the perpetrators and should be condemned in strongest possible words",
Naheed Khan said. She asked the Election Commissioner to review the voting
pattern in urban area like Naushehra where in several counts he will find no
woman voted for any candidate. This is itself a proof that women were
stopped from voting in these areas.
Naheed Khan urged the Human Rights Organisations, international and national
monitors and civil society to take notice of this grave injustice meted out
to the women in Pakistan. She said that the hollow claims of the regime of
being enlightened and liberal under a general in uniform has been fully
exposed.

'I Will Go to
Do Jihad Again and Again'
By N.C. Aizenman
KABUL, Afghanistan --
The prisoner perched on a metal chair, hugging his knees to his chest and
rocking slightly, like a nervous child.
But his expression relaxed into a blissful smile as he described what he
would do if released from his cell in the headquarters of the national
intelligence service.
"When I get the chance, I will stick to my promise," said Sher Ali, 28, a
Pakistani man with cropped black hair and a long beard. "I will go to do
jihad again and again."
Ali said he took his vow to wage holy war against U.S. forces in Afghanistan
earlier this summer, just before embarking on what he described as a 20-day
weapons training course at a secret mountain camp in northeastern Pakistan.
He was captured by Afghan police about three weeks ago, shortly after
crossing into Afghanistan's rugged, northeastern Konar province. The area
has been a haven for armed renegades from an assortment of groups, including
al Qaeda, the Taliban and backers of former Afghan leader Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, who is now a fugitive.
Over the last several months, insurgents have killed hundreds of people in
Afghanistan, including aid workers, religious and tribal leaders, government
officials, and Afghan and U.S. troops, many in ambushes and bombings
apparently aimed at derailing parliamentary elections scheduled for Sept.
18.
American and Afghan forces have countered with an aggressive effort to flush
the fighters from their remote mountain hideouts, killing several hundred in
operations in border provinces from Konar in the north to Kandahar in the
south. They have also taken several hundred suspected insurgents prisoner
and allowed a few to speak to journalists.
Ali's story, which could not be verified independently, offered a glimpse of
what Afghan authorities charge is a shadowy Pakistani network that continues
to fuel the insurgency with fresh recruits as fast as U.S. and Afghan forces
kill or capture their predecessors.
Ali spoke in the presence of an Afghan intelligence official, but he did not
show signs of having been mistreated. Some details, such as the existence of
jihadist training camps and the recruitment of Islamic fighters, have been
reported separately in the Pakistani press or described by prisoners after
their release.
"We know where a lot of these training camps are. We have their names. And
we've given the Pakistanis all the information we have," said a senior
Afghan intelligence official. "We're waiting for Pakistan to show the
willingness to fight."
Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has repeatedly pointed out that
his government has captured or killed more than 700 suspected al Qaeda
members in Pakistan since 2001. It also lost more than 250 soldiers last
year in battles against al Qaeda bases in the largely lawless semiautonomous
tribal regions along the Afghan border.
Officials from the two governments have recently exchanged pledges to
collaborate closely on security. But they must still contend with the
sympathy that many Pakistanis feel toward the Taliban, particularly in
tribal border towns such as Miram Shah, where residents share the same
Pashtun ethnicity as the Afghan militia.
It was in Miram Shah this summer, at the home of a friend, that Sher Ali
said he met Zubair, an Afghan in his late twenties, who recruited him to
fight in Afghanistan. Ali, who was visiting from his village, said Zubair
did not initially admit to being an insurgent. "But from the way he talked,
I could tell that he had been a fighter," Ali said during an hour-long
interview in the intelligence headquarters.
Ali said Zubair told him and his companions that Western troops were
bombing, arresting and torturing innocent Afghans. "He kept saying, 'It's
our duty as Muslims to go there and help,' " said Ali.
That night, Ali recalled, Zubair turned to him and asked point-blank: "Do
you want to join the jihad?"
The son of a truck driver, Ali said he had never belonged to any religious
movement and had never attended any of the thousands of free religious
schools that cater to impoverished Pakistani children. Instead he had
dropped out of public school at 13 to take a series of odd jobs, most
recently as a security guard.
During that pivotal evening in Miram Shah, Ali said he thought of his wife
and 1-year-old son, who lived with his parents in a mud hut. But he also
thought of how he had often seethed at the idea of U.S. troops in Muslim
lands such as Afghanistan and Iraq and at the U.S. military's detention of
Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"It was like Zubair had poured the petrol, lit the match and set fire to
this issue of jihad for me," he said.
Several days later, Ali said he boarded a public bus for the four-hour
journey from Peshawar, the city nearest his village, to the northeastern
Pakistani mountain town of Mansehra. He carried only a backpack stuffed with
three changes of clothes and a bar of soap. His ears rang with his mother's
wails of protest at the news that he was setting off for jihad.
But as the bus sputtered through the flat, hot plain of his youth into hilly
green terrain, Ali said his only concern was whether he would prove
physically fit for the regimen ahead. Otherwise, he said, he felt deeply
happy.
"I knew then that when I was killed in jihad, I would go directly to
heaven," he said, smiling.
On reaching the bus stop in Mansehra, Ali walked to a stand selling fried
dumplings and looked for the contact Zubair had promised would be waiting.
"Salaam aleikum," peace be to you, he said tentatively to a middle-age man
with a long beard.
"Are you the person who has come from Peshawar?" the man asked.
Ali nodded, and the man quickly led him to another bus, this one far more
dilapidated. They rode for an hour to a small town, then alighted and began
a steep hike up into the hills, following no discernable path. For more than
four hours they trekked in silence under a cool canopy of trees, taller than
any Ali had ever seen.
Finally they reached a small camp of five white tents, where about 20 men
were preparing to perform afternoon prayers. Ali was introduced to a
soft-spoken Pakistani instructor who never gave his name, though Ali said he
overheard others refer to him as Maksud.
Maksud never gave the name of the group that was training him, Ali said.
However, the hills around Mansehra overlook Pakistan's border with Kashmir,
a disputed Himalayan province that is split between Pakistan and India.
The area has long been a training ground for Kashmiri guerrillas,
unofficially supported by Pakistan. In recent years, several Kashmiri groups
have joined forces with al Qaeda or the Taliban to attack Western targets,
but critics charge that the Pakistani military remains reluctant to defang
them.
Every day, Ali said, the trainees awoke before dawn and did sprinting
exercises for 20 minutes. They spent several hours learning how to assemble,
aim and fire weapons, from Kalashnikov rifles to rocket-propelled grenade
launchers, although Ali said there was only one rocket, so the trainees
never actually fired it.
Despite the loud bangs emanating from the camp, Ali said, Maksud took pains
to conceal it and warned the trainees not to wander too far away.
Shortly after Ali returned to Peshawar, he said, Zubair arrived and
announced they would drive into Afghanistan the next morning. Ali said
Zubair never told him whom they would be joining, but an Afghan intelligence
investigator said Ali had confessed under interrogation that Zubair was
working for a senior Taliban commander, Jalaluddin Haqqani.
Ali said Afghan border guards waved them into Konar, assuming they were
Afghan. But some miles later, police stopped their taxi. When they
discovered Ali did not have identity papers, they arrested him.
Ali complained that the Konar police kept him tied up for several days and
threatened to hurt him. But he said that he was never beaten and added he
had been pleasantly surprised by the extent to which Afghans appeared to be
in charge of their country.
Still, the Pakistani prisoner remained skeptical and defiant. The interview
over, Ali rose from his chair in the investigator's office and began to
shuffle out of the room. Suddenly, he stopped and popped his head back
through the door.
"So," he demanded, "when are you taking me to Guantanamo?"

PPP issues 6th
fact sheet regarding local bodies elections
Islamabad, 22 August 2005: The Media Coordinator of the PPP
Central Monitoring Committee for Local Bodies Elections, Nazir Dhoki has
said that the Election Commission remained unmoved while the ruling party
crossed all limits of rigging in the first phase of elections on 18th
August. He said this while issuing the 6th fact sheet regarding rigging and
victimisation of Awam Dost Candidates and their supporters in the local
bodies elections.
The fact sheet says that the administration in Gujranwala, Sialkot, Sargodha,
Khushab, Lodhran, Multan, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Pak Pattan, Vehari, D.G.Khan,
Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan committed acts of
rigging in the elections to get the King’s party candidates elected. He said
that the candidates who had won in the evening were declared unsuccessful in
the morning. A private TV channel showed a film in which the polling staff
was shown casting votes with the connivance of the King’s party. The houses
of Awam Dost Candidates and their workers were raided at night and the PPP
workers were tortured including Nisar Razi in Sargodha and even the
electronic media personnel were not spared. The goons of King’s party opened
fire in Gujranwala and created an atmosphere of fear. In Silakot, the
Speaker National Assembly used police to pick up opposition candidates from
the polling stations. The federal parliamentary secretary Dr. Firdaus Ashiq
Awan also complained about these tactics used by the Speaker. Nazir Dhoki
said that grave irregularities and acts of rigging were committed by the
King’s party in Khushab and Rahim Yar Khan. Federal Minister Sher Afgan
Niazi and Jahangir Tareen also complained on television regarding these
riggings.
The fact sheet says that every limit of state terrorism was crossed by the
King’s party in Sindh province. Government machinery was used by the King’s
party and its allies on election day in Karachi, Umarkot, Mirpurkhas,
Jacobabad, Kashmore, Sanghar, Tharparkar, Tando Allah Yar and Naushehrao
Feroz. Several polling stations in Karachi were declared no go area even for
the media representatives. Results were changed in Lyari-3, Ghaddap-3,
Rehri-2, Kemari-6 and Site Town-9 during the night of the elections. The
supporters of King’s party opened fire in Malir at the polling stations and
voter lists were snatched from the opposition polling agents in Ibrahim
Haidari. The allies of the government opened fire on the voters and workers
of the party in Shahra-e-Qaideen, Ajmer Nagri, Lyari and Liaquatabad and
seven peoples were arrested by the police but were released on the orders of
the governor of Sindh. The election administration helped the King’s party
in the acts of rigging and Awam Dost polling agents were not allowed in the
polling stations. In Kashmore, on the polling day, the son and the nephew of
the former member national assembly, Mir Hazar Khan Bajarani were arrested
while member national assembly, Saleem Jan Mazari committed grave acts of
rigging with the help of police and administration. Ballot boxes were filled
with bogus votes by the Presiding Officers in Kashmore. Thirty workers of
Pakistan Peoples Party got injured by the firing of the supporters of King’s
party. Several ladies polling agents were kidnapped and dozens of Awam Dost
Candidates alongwith 40 PPP workers were arrested in Kashmore.
In Sanghar, the Awam Dost Candidate for Naib Nazim Mumtaz Rajar and his
brother Mashooq Rajar were tortured and kidnapped. The supporters of King’s
party opened fire on PPP workers injuring 29 of them. Ballot boxes were
snatched on gunpoint by the armed Hurr of Pir Pagara. In Thatta, the
supporters of Shirazi group opened fire on member Sindh assembly Sassi
Palejo, Ghulam Qadir Palejo and Sattar Lohar. The Awam Dost Candidate for
Nazim in Jhok Sharif, Allah Rakhio Ghamboh was attacked with an axe and
severely injured. In all Thatta district, Awam Dost Candidates and their
agents were targeted and the King’s party goons opened fire injuring Mathino,
Mir Soomro, Gul Muhammad Soomro, Bachayo, Azeem, Somar, Ghulam Mustaf,
Maqbool, Didar and Aziz. The Awam Dost Candidates were refused the result
sheets. Dr. Hafeez Jatoi was attacked by the supporters of Shirazi Group in
Jhok Sharif. The fact sheet says that the son of Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi used
police and the administration for acts of rigging in Naushahro Feroz.
Polling agents of Awam Dost Candidate was thrown out of the polling
stations. The polling staff was severely beaten up in Tando Allah Yar by the
supporting of King’s party. The administration remained unmoved despite
complaints filed by presiding officer Inamullah Bhatti in Tando Allah Yar
and the office bearer of MQM committed open acts of rigging. The state
machinery was used in all these acts of riggings.
The fact sheet says that six workers of PPP were killed in NWFP by the goons
of the King’s party. Voters were stopped from using their basic rights to
vote for Awam Dost Candidates in Barkhan and other areas of Balochistan.
Nazir Dhoki said that the Election Commission did not take notice of
victimisation of opposition candidates and use of state terror against Awam
Dost Candidates and their supporters. The code of conduct was violated by
the government officials but the Election Commission did not take any
action. He said that it is very unfortunate that Election Commission has
been made a B-team of General Musharraf and the sanctity of ballot was
violated without any fear. Nazir Dhoki said that Pakistan People Party
rejects the results manoeuvred and engineered by the Musharraf government.

PPP demands
removal of Police Officers involved in election rigging in Gujrat
Islamabad, 22 August 2005: Pakistan
Peoples Party has filed a complaint with the Chief Election Commissioner
asking him to remove several police officers who are involved in picking up
the Awam Dost Candidates and their supporters in Gujrat district and
demanded him to direct the District Returning Officer to restore
candidatures of all those candidates of Nazim and Naib Nazim who have not
withdrawn jointly and together in compliance of the election Rule 16(1).
The application filed by the former member national assembly, Advocate
Nawabzada Ghazanfar Ali Gul and Chaudhry Qamar Zaman Kaira, Member National
Assembly reads, "The ruling Party, Shujaat group, is playing havoc with the
election process in the Gujrat district. No norms of elections code of
conduct are being followed at all. The Gujrat administration, police and
otherwise is at their disposal. No writ or authority of the Election
Commission prevail there. The State machinery is being used ruthlessly to
crush the opposition to achieve desired results. Ch. Shujaat’s younger
brother Ch. Wajahat Hussain MNA is directing the operation. He is acting as
a defecto Chief Minister."
It further says, "From the beginning of the election process is being
exerted on the opposition candidates of Nazims and Naib Nazims through
police, either to join Shujaat group or withdraw from the contest or face
the consequences. The candidates are picked up and kept in illegal custody
till they submit. At number of places armed gangs are harassing the
candidates and their supporters. A number of seats have been secured
unopposed. Under rule 16(1), Nazim or Naib cannot withdraw without the
consent of both the candidates under joint candidature. In Gujrat this rule
is being violated blatantly. A Nazim or a Naib Nazim is picked up by police
and forced to withdraw, resultantly it becomes fatal for the non-withdrawing
candidate as well. The Returning Officers don’t pay any head to objections."
The application has mentioned names of all candidates of Nazim and Naib
Nazim who were pressurised to withdraw by the ruling party using police,
administration and government machinery. The application has asked to remove
DSP Kharian, SHO PS Jalal Pur Jattan Saddar and City, SHO Karrianwala, SHO
PS Saddar Gujrat, SHO PS Civil Line Gujrat, Incharge Police post Dault Nagar
and Police Post Rehmanian are playing a main role in harassing and arresting
candidates to force them to withdraw. A fair, free and transparent election
is just a mad man’s dream. These officers are on active duty. The aforesaid
police officers are immediately removed from duty to ensure a free and fair
poll, the application prayed.

PPP to cut off
talks with govt
By Mubasher Bukhari
LAHORE:
Pakistan People’s Party chief Benazir Bhutto has decided to cut off talks
with the president’s aides following what the party sees as widespread
rigging in the local elections and the government’s dogged pursuit of cases
against PPP leaders in Swiss courts, party insiders told Daily Times on
Sunday.
The sources said that in the last round of talks between the government and
the PPP, the government’s negotiators had assured the party that it would
not pursue the cases against Bhutto and her husband Asif Zardari pending in
Swiss courts, and would allow free and fair local bodies polls. “The
government has broken both promises,” said the sources.
When fresh negotiations began between the government and the PPP a few weeks
ago, the PPP demanded fresh general elections before the local polls.
“Though the provincial governments of the Pakistan Muslim League and its
allies were openly supporting their candidates with public funds, the PPP
still believed that the ‘real forces’ would not let them engineer the
results, but this is exactly what happened,” said insiders.
They said that Bhutto had decided to immediately suspend the talks with the
government.
PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar, when asked about the talks, did not
deny the report. He said the PPP and the ARD would not boycott the second
phase of local polls on August 25, even though it believed there would be
more rigging. The party would decide about talks with the government after
August 25, he added.

Mohtarma Bhutto condemns denial of treatment to Peer Mukarram
Islamabad: Former Prime
Minister and chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto has condemned the denial of medical facilities to PPP leader Peer
Mukaramul Haq in Jail and described it as inhuman and smacking of vendetta.
Pir Mukarram the husband of the PPP Punjab MPA Farzana Raja was in detention
in a NAB case and under treatment in a hospital in Islamabad under medical
advice. However when his wife Farzana Raja continued to stridently criticize
the government he was forcibly shifted against medical advice from the
hospital in the federal capital to jail in Mianwali about two months ago.
Lately Peer Mukarram who is a diabetic complained of high sugar level upon
which the jail doctor advised that he be shifted to any jail where the
facility of a teaching hospital or a District headquarter hospital were
available.
Farzana Raja has complained that the doctor's report coming during local
bodies' polls embarrassed the rulers who asked the doctor to modify it.
Refusing to bow to the pressure the jail doctor resigned his job and left
the town. The Mianwali jail is now without a qualified doctor and there is
only one dispenser who looks after the medical needs of several hundred jail
inmates.
Peer Mukarram has also applied for urgent bail on medical grounds in the
Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court through Advocate Dr. Babar Awan
but in the absence of a division bench during summer vacations the bail
application will come up for hearing after the court vacations.
In a statement today the former Prime Minister said that denial of treatment
to Peer Mukarram was not only denial of a basic human right but was also
cruel, inhuman and degrading to the perpetrators. She said it was a
manifestation of political vendetta in the extreme.
The former Prime Minister demanded of the regime to immediately provide
medical care to Peer Mukarram in the light of the medical report and warned
that if anything happened to him the rulers will be responsible for the
consequences.
She also asked the human rights bodies and members of the legal fraternity
to raise voice against this injustice and cruelty and force the regime to
desist from perpetrating such crimes against political opponents.

Mohtarma Bhutto shocked over
the murder of Derek Cyprian
Demands judicial probe and arrest of criminals
Islamabad: Former Prime Minister and
Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has said
that it was strange that the regime had adopted a casual attitude towards
the murder of a former federal minister.
Former federal minister in an earlier Musharaf Cabinet and a Christian
leader Derek Cyprian was kidnapped in Lahore last week and remained untraced
for three days. Subsequently his dead body was recovered decomposed and with
his hands and feet tied besides marks of strangulation around his neck.
In her compliant lodged with the police the daughter of the deceased had
also stated that late Derek Cyprian used to receive threatening phone calls
placed by some unknown callers for several days before the incident.
In a statement today the former Prime Minister said that an impartial
judicial inquiry was necessary to investigate the matter. She was shocked
That the regime had failed to take stern action following the gruesome
murder. She said that it was important for the regime to show it was not
involved in the matter by ensuring that the crime was investigated and the
murderers punished.
"The kidnapping and cold blooded murder of a former federal minister and a
Christian leader in the capital of the country's largest province only shows
the worsening law and order situation in the country", Mohtarma added.
Mohtarma Bhutto said that it was most unfortunate that the rulers spent time
and energy in chasing political opponents but had no time for performing
their basic duty of protecting the honor, life and property of citizens.

Mohtarma Bhutto condemns
murders of Party workers
Demands arrest of killers, condoles with bereaved families
Islamabad: Former Prime Minister and
chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has
condemned the killing of PPP workers in Akora Khattak in district Nowshera
in Frontier province on the eve of local bodies' polls and demanded arrest
and punishment to the killers.
I am shocked beyond measure by the murder of PPP workers in district
Nowshera on the eve o elections, she said in a statement today.
A victory procession of Nazim elect of Akora Khattak was on its way back
from a local shrine when they were fired upon by opponents resulting in the
death of five workers of the Pakistan Peoples Party. Two workers died on the
spot while three succumbed to their injuries in the hospital. Nine injured
are still in the hospital with the condition of some stated to be serious.
The former Prime Minister demanded a judicial probe into the matter and
arrest and punishment to the killers at the earliest. She also demanded that
the families of those killed be compensated.
"Those who perpetrated this heinous crime must be punished; they will be".
Mohtarma Bhutto condoled with the bereaved families and prayed for eternal
rest for the departed souls and speedy recovery to those injured in the
shoot out.
The former Prime Minister also directed the Frontier Party leadership to
take up the matter at the highest level and ensure that the culprits were
brought to justice without delay. She directed the provincial president to
also visit the bereaved families and offer condolences on her behalf.

Zardari in New York for
treatment
NEW YORK: Asif Ali Zardari, husband of
former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians Chief
Benazir Bhutto, reached New York for medical treatment on Sunday.
After initial tests, doctors are likely to operate on him today. Zardari
suffers from diabetes and a spinal ailment which prevents him from moving
around without support.
Soon after landing at Kennedy Airport, Zardari left for a friend’s house
where he will stay during his treatment.

Raza Rabbani condemns attack
on Prof. Ghafoor's house
KARACHI: Opposition Leader in Senate and
Central Leader of Pakistan People Party (PPP) strongly condemning the firing
incident on the residence of Senator Prof. Gafoor Ahmed has accused the
government of embarking upon the path of 'fascism and wanting of physically
eliminate the opposition'.
In a press statement issued here on Monday he also reject Prime Minister
Statement that election were held in a peaceful manner and termed it a cruel
joke. He said that the death tolls in the present first round were continued
to mount, as did the cases of political violence.
Reminding the attacks on opposition's members of parliaments he alleged that
Pakistan Muslim League and their political partner had involved in the
attacks.
PPP leader accused the PML of giving birth a new culture of political
violence.

Mian Raza Rabbani talks of
three-pronged strategy of rulers to chase and hound opposition
Warns against social and political consequences of pushing opposition to the
wall
Islamabad: Mian Raza Rabbani leader of
the opposition in the Senate has expressed serious alarm over the new wave
of intimidation and harassment let loose by the regime against political
opponents and warned that if not ended immediately the new wave of
repression would result in irreversible polarisation endangering the
integrity of the federation.
He stated this in a statement today reacting to the incident of firing on
Nisar Khuro Opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly when the latter was
addressing a corner meeting of political workers in Larkana on Friday. Nisar
Khuro escaped unhurt in the aborted murderous attack.
Mian Raza Rabbani said that the rulers had taken the rigging in local polls
to unprecedented pitch so much so that they were now seeking to silence
those who exposed the manipulations and gerrymandering.
He said that Nisar Khuro was exposing the fraudulent polls at the corner
meeting when he was fired upon by some hired goons of the rulers who later
fled under cover of the protective agencies.
He said that the regime had adopted a three pronged strategy to crush and
hound the opposition.
First, the opposition leaders were physically attacked to scare them from
supporting the PPP and Mohtarma Bhutto. PPP leaders Yousuf Talpur, Ghulam
Qadir Palijo and Sassi Palijo were physically attacked by unknown assailants
during election campaign of the awam dost candidates, he said.
Second, leading political opponents were framed in false and fabricated
murder and other criminal cases to bog them down in running from court to
court and from city to city. False murder and other criminal cases had been
instituted against MNAs Pir Aftab Shah Jillani and Naveed Qamar, ex Minister
Mohsin Shah, ex Nazim Makhdoom Rafiquz Zaman and MPA Sassi Palijo.
Third and worse, the rulers had now resorted to manipulating the election
results after the polls to show that the winners had actually lost the
elections.
Giving examples Raza Rabbani said that in the UC 2 Liaquatabad Ramzan Malik
was declared successful by the returning officer and the results announced
on the media but now he was being denied victory through manipulation of
results.
Likewise, Rafiq Suleman in UC 3 Liyari, Muhammad Bakhsh in UC 3 Gudap,
Ashraf Himayati in UC 2 Rehri, Allah Bakhsh in UC 6 Kemari and Muhammad
Niazii UC 9 Site Town were formally declared successful as Nazims by the
respective poll officials and this fact was also announced on the electronic
and print media. But official results have now been withheld and the
candidates have been told that the initial reports of their having won were
not correct.
"This is manipulation and rigging unprecedented the political and social
fall out of which would be disastrous for social cohesion and national
integration".

PPP expected to prevail in
Wagah Town polls
* PML-backed Diyals to face off against
PPP-backed Ghurkis
* Shalimar and Aziz Bhatti towns’ division plays into PPP’s hands
By Qamar Jabbar
LAHORE: The division of the provincial
capital into nine towns from six could potentially help the Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP) make a clean sweep in Wagah Town.
Wagah Town consists of 12 union councils out of which only four fall in
urban areas while eight fall in rural areas. Rural areas have been a
traditional stronghold for the PPP for the last fifteen years and so the
PPP-backed Ghurki family has a golden opportunity to hold its hegemony on
the town and kick out the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML)-backed Diyal
family.
Wagah Town was established by dividing the old Shalimar and Aziz Bhatti
towns, which damaged the political position of the Diyals and blocked the
way for former Shalimar Town nazim Ashiq Diyal to become town nazim again.
The Diyals, who joined the PML in 2000, captured the Shalimar Town nazim
position in the 2001 local elections and later contested the 2002 general
elections on the PML’s ticket.
Reportedly, former Lahore nazim Mian Amir Mehmood divided the Shalimar and
Aziz Bhatti towns because of differences with Ashig Diyal. Diyals see this
as a conspiracy against them by the former nazim, as they now have to run in
rural areas against their old rivals, the Ghurki family.
Ashiq Diyal, who is PML’s nominee for Wagah Town nazim, wanted to run for
Shalimar Town nazim and requested the PML Punjab president to nominate
someone else to face Ghurki in Wagah town. However, the PML had already made
a commitment with Ikhlaq Guddu, who recently joined the PML from the PPP, to
run for Shalimar Town nazim.
Under compulsion, the Diyal group, with the help of clans in the area, are
fielding candidates in 11 out of the 12 union councils (UCs) in Wagah Town
In 10 UCs, the PPP candidates will directly face the PML nominees while the
PPP’s allies, the PML-N candidates, will contest the ruling party candidates
on two seats.
UC 37: The PPP nominee Syed Zahid Ali Shah will contest Akhtar Nazir of the
PML for the nazim slot. This area falls in the constituency of PPP leader
Aitzaz Ehsan, which increases PPP’s chances of winning the election.
UC 38: Saeed Nazir of the PML will contest Malik Jaffar of the PPP for nazim.
In this constituency, a close fight is predicted as the PML have a
substantial vote bank in the area.
UC 39: This contest between three candidates will be purely on the basis of
clans. The PML has nominated Chaudhry Majeed for nazim while the PPP and the
PML-N have nominated Malik Shahid Imtiaz and Mehmood Sadique Olak,
respectively. The Awan, Malik and Rajpoot clans in the area support the PML
candidates while the Jatts and the Gujjars support the PPP.
UC 40: The PML has nominated Haji Ghulam Mustafa and Mian Arshad for nazim
and naib nazim against Qazi Muhammad Idrees of the PML-N and Mian Ghafoor of
the PPP.
UC 42: The PML has yet to finalise its candidate while Chaudhry Sajjad Imran
of the PPP and Haji Khadim Hussain of PML-N are contesting the nazim slot.
UC 49: Babar Butt of the PPP and Chaudhry Manzoor of the Muttahida
Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), candidates for nazim and naib nazim will face Saleem
Butt and Liaqat Ali of the PML. This area is mostly rural and the hub for
the PPP.
UC 50: Muhammad Asghar Ali and Munir Hussain of the PML, running for nazim
and naib nazim, will contest Rana Mehmood of the PML-N for nazim and
Muhammad Islam of the PPP for naib nazim. Thi |