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The Rediff Interview/Benazir Bhutto
 

August 2005

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
 

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.

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