February 2006
NA body summons
record on Government contact with Interpol
ISLAMABAD The News 23-2-2006: The Ministry of Interior Wednesday assured the
Standing Committee of the National assembly on interior to furnish all the
correspondence between the Government and Interpol regarding the issuance of
the red notices to former prime minister and Chairperson PPP Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari.
The members of the committee belonging to PPP made the demand to furnish all
the relevant correspondence between Pakistan Government and Interpol for the
issuance of the red notices to Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali
Zardari during a meeting of committee which was held Wednesday.
The meeting chaired by Chairman of the committee Sardar Talib Hussain Nakai
and attended by its opposition members Naheed Khan, Manzoor Wassan, Nayyer
Bukhari, Tehmina Daultana, Fareed Paracha and the members from the treasury
benches. Interior minister Mr. Sherpao and the prosecutor from the NAB also
attended the meeting.
Naheed Khan, Tehmina Daultana, Nayyer Bukhari, Manzoor Wasan and Fareed
Paracha, to discuss the issue of red notice against the former prime
minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party Benazir Bhutto and her
spouse Senator Asif Ali Zardari requisitioned the meeting.
The opposition members of the committee posed several questions regarding
the issuance of red notice by the Interpol. They said that this Government
move was totally biased and discriminatory against Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
and her spouse Zardari and asked the Government to put before the committee
all the facts and proceedings leading to the issuance of these red notices
including all the correspondence between the Pakistani authorities and the
Interpol.
The opposition members were very critical of the Government’s action against
the former prime minister who has left the country with the due permission
of the court and there has been no conviction against her in Pakistan. “Her
lawyers are representing her in all the concocted and false cases instituted
against her. Similarly, Mr. Zardari was incarcerated for eight long years
and had gone abroad with the full knowledge of the Government and currently
he is being treated for his illnesses caused by prolong incarceration
without adequate medical treatment,” they stated.
They asked the Government that why the request for issuance of red notices
was made and who ordered to abuse the Interpol process.
The prosecutor representing NAB was unable to respond to the questions asked
by the opposition including under which law the request was made to Interpol
for issuance of red notice.
The opposition members also asked the Government to inform the committee
that so far how may individuals including notorious criminals and absconders
it has brought back in the country using Interpol how may cases are being
processed for issuance of red notices against wanted individuals and why the
Government acted selectively in using Interpol against a former prime
minister. The opposition members also questioned the timing of the
Government action as the former prime minister was on a lecture visit in the
USA.
Naheed Khan said that if Interior Ministry had played the role of Post
Office then opposition should be given letter written by NAB. She said that
opposition should also be provided the details that on what cases the red
notices were issued to Ms. Bhutto and her husband.
Interior Minister said that NAB is not subordinate to Interior Ministry.
He said that FIA had played the role of local Interpol for red notices. NAB
legal consultant told the meeting that 13 persons were issued red notices in
other cases besides Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari.
Secretary Interior Kamal Pasha said that Interpol issued red notice in
accordance with the proper way.
No move yet for BB,
Zardari co-accused red notices
ISLAMABADThe Nation 23-02-2006: The Ministry of Interior has
expressed its inability to approach the Interpol for bringing back other
four co-accused with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her spouse
Asif Zardari for whom the red notices were issued.
Interior Minister Sherpao and Interior Secretary Kamal Shah have conceded
before the National Assembly Standing Committee on interior on Wednesday
that they have yet not approached the Interpol to get issued red notices for
four co-accused who are believed to be foreigners.
The NA standing committee on interior which met here at the Parliament House
under the chair of Sardar TAlib Nakai was requisitioned by the opposition
members Naheed Khan, Manzoor Wasan, Nayyer Bukhari, Tehmina Daultana and
Fareed Paracha to discuss the issue of red notices against the former Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Zardari.
On the demand of opposition the chairman has directed the interior minister
and secretary to provide the copies of red notices and correspondence made
between NAB and Interpol to PPP.
Responding to opposition queries NAB prosecutor Barrister Shahzad said that
about 13 cases are laying pending with Interpol filed by NAB for issuance of
red notices out of which only Admiral (Retd) Mansoor ul Haq was brought back
to Pakistan.
Interior ministry officials were reluctant to respond when asked that had
the NAB or any other investigating agaency approached Interpol to issue red
notices for MQM Chief Altaf Hussain and PML (N) President Mian Shahbaz
Sharif.
Talking to reporters Sherpao said that investigating agencies probing the
killing of Chinese engineers and got some key information regarding the
accused who will be arrested soon.
He said that no list from Hamid Ali Karzai government was provided to
Pakistan for wanted men but we have just shared some information of wanted
terrorists from both sides.
The opposition members of the committee posed several questions regarding
the issuance of red notices by the Interpol. They said that this Government
move was totally biased and discriminatory against Benazir Bhutto and Asif
Zardari.
They asked the Government to put before the committee all the facts and
proceedings leading to the issuance of red notices including all the
correspondence made between the Government agencies and departments and
between the Pakistani authorities and the Interpol. They demanded of the
Government to put before the committee the correspondence between interior
ministry and the NAB, between NAB and Interpol, between the Government of
Pakistan and the Interpol and between Interpol Pakistan and Interpol Lyon.
They asked the Government that why the request for issuance of red notice
was made and who ordered to abuse the Interpol process. The prosecutor
representing NAB was unable to respond to the questions asked by the
opposition that under which law the request was made to Interpol for
issuance of red notices.
PPP urges
Commonwealth to raise the issue of good governance with military regime
Islamabad, February 23, 2006: Pakistan Peoples Party has
urged the Commonwealth to raise voice for good governance in Pakistan by
taking up the issue of the perversion of justice with the military
dictatorship with a view to disbanding NAB and ending the abuse of
Pakistan's laws and treasury as well as its constitutional requirements of
protection of law to each citizen.
Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, Member Foreign Liaison Committee Pakistan Peoples
Party in a letter addressed to the Secretary General Commonwealth, Mr. Don
McKinnon wrote, "For almost a decade the military establishment which
destabilized democracy in Pakistan in 1996 by overthrowing the democratic
government led by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has squandered national resources
in a character assassination campaign against her and her husband. One of
the center pieces of this campaign was that a property known as Rockwood
estate in Surrey owned by a foreign structure was purchased by the spouse of
the former Prime Minister through corrupt means. The military regime was
unable to produce evidence that could convince an independent judge that the
property was the result of corruption."
Regarding the judgement by the Isle of Man High Court which is outside the
jurisdiction of military dictator General Musharraf, she wrote, "In a
landmark judgment delivered on 9-2-2006, the High Court in the Isle of Man
Chancery Division rejected the petition filed by the liquidator in response
to the military dictatorship's Bureau of National Accountability (NAB) that
the Rockwood assets were acquired through corrupt means. The unethical
tactics used by the NAB to pervert the course of justice were exposed during
the proceedings. The regime had got the liquidator, who should have been
acting for the company, on behalf of the interests of NAB."
Senator Rukhsana Zuberi further wrote, "This judgment by an independent
court outside of Pakistan is itself a big question mark that "If the NAB can
go so far as to influence foreign citizens to whom it cannot give the same
kind of protection as in Pakistan, doesn’t it indicate the lengths to which
the NAB may have gone in Pakistan to influence testimony, fabricate cases
and try to destroy the good name and reputation of the popular leadership of
the people?"
"This independent verdict is a glaring example as how the NAB, instead of
battling corruption, has trampled the course of justice at state expense to
pursue a political agenda aimed at denying the people of Pakistan a
leadership of their choice. It may be noted that with the judicial hearings
it is also now established that former Prime Minister did not purchase the
said property nor did she see it nor did she know anything about it. Yet the
entire international media was roped in by the regime which was exploiting
the international position of Mohtarma Bhutto to give out false stories and
undermine her standing", she concluded.
Bajaur airstrike :
The story behind the scenes
Amir Mir
The January 13 US airstrike in the Damadola village of the
Bajaur Agency was carried out on the basis of human intelligence provided by
some Pakistani intelligence sleuths believed to be on the CIA payroll and
working as informers in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan
(FATA).
According to well placed intelligence sources in Islamabad, who are working
in tandem with the US intelligence agents stationed in Pakistan, the deadly
airstrikes would not have happened without the involvement of the Pakistani
intelligence agents. They said the three attacks that fired nine missiles
and killed 13 Pakistanis were the outcome of a closely coordinated operation
planned and executed by a combination of US and Pakistani intelligence
officials, and that those from the Pakistani side were actually assisting
the Americans in their personal capacity.
“The air attacks could not have been possible without having precise
information that the right target was at that location, though Dr. Ayman al
Zawahiri got out of the building much before it was hit,” the sources added.
Elaborating, a retired intelligence official said although the Pakistani
agencies are supposed to provide intelligence information to their American
counterparts in Pakistan about the al Qaeda and Taliban operatives, the US
agents no longer trust them. Therefore, they have hired some serving and
former intelligence officials in Pakistan who are working undercover for the
Americans in the tribal areas. He added that these hired agents have further
hired local informers who provide information for the sake of money.
To a question, the retired official said those in the Pakistani intelligence
agencies who are working for the CIA are actually members of a ‘Spider
Group’, which is a band of former army and intelligence officers, raised by
the Americans to accelerate the hunting down of the remaining al Qaeda and
Taliban fugitives who are hiding in Pakistan. The Americans had to set up
their own surveillance network in the country due to unsatisfactory
cooperation from the Pakistani intelligence establishment in locating the al
Qaeda and Taliban remnants, the intelligence official added.
The Spider Group members include experts in intelligence, interrogation,
linguistics, cyber crime, communications and forensic investigations. Many
of those in the US-organised espionage service in Pakistan have had long
experience dealing with Afghanistan, which can be traced back to the
US-sponsored war against the Soviet troops in the 1980s and as recently as
the Taliban rule from the mid-1990s till 2001. The members of the Spider
Group are entrusted with the task of tracking the activities of the fugitive
al Qaeda and Taliban operatives in the border areas as well as in the big
cities of Pakistan.
Talking about the January 13 raid in the Bajaur Agency, a well placed ISI
official said the CIA had been receiving reports through its informers in
the Pakistani intelligence establishment that the Egyptian surgeon and al
Qaeda’s No. 2 had been visiting the Bajaur Agency for about a year and thus
they had been trying to keep an eye on his movement over the past few
months. Another reason for Zawahiri’s visit to the remote Bajaur village was
to meet his family members because it had been quite some time since
Zawahiri last visited his family or met his in-laws. Zawahiri is reportedly
married to a woman from the Mohmand tribe who, with her children, lives with
her father in the border area between Bajaur Agency and Mohmand tribal
regions.
The ISI official said that the human intelligence for the Bajaur raid was
actually provided by a local informer in the Bajaur Agency who was working
for a hired ISI official who further passed it on to the Americans. The CIA
sleuths had information that a grand meeting was going to take place across
the border in the Damadola village of the Bajaur Agency between fugitive
Taliban and al Qaeda leaders. The CIA subsequently flew three Predator
drones over the area shortly before the meeting to take intelligence videos
and mark the location of the target before the strike. The local informers
were to confirm the death of Zawahiri to the Americans in case of a
successful hit and they have already confirmed that Zawahiri has survived
once again.
The intelligence sources say Dr. Zawahiri did visit the Damadola village of
Bajaur Agency on January 10, and not on January 13 when the American
missiles struck three adjoining houses in the area and killed 18 civilians.
The American missiles were deadly accurate as they not only located the
three targeted houses on the outskirts of the village of Damadola, but
squarely struck their hujra, the large room traditionally used by Pashtun
tribesmen to accommodate their guests. However, the information provided by
the Pakistani informers that Zawahiri had been staying there for the
previous two days was simply faulty, because the al Qaeda leaders had
visited the place a couple of days ago and had stayed there for not more
than an hour.
Islamabad-based diplomatic sources say the Bajaur airstrikes and those that
were carried out earlier are a reflection of the growing impatience of the
US command in Kabul with the Pakistan army’s alleged failure to flush out al
Qaeda and the Taliban from the tribal areas. Interdiction of such elements
infiltrating into Afghanistan to carry out attacks against the coalition and
Afghan forces and subsequently infiltrating back into Pakistan to safe areas
has, in the US command’s view, not managed to significantly dent this
traffic, the sources said. The diplomatic sources say two airstrikes within
a short span of one week mean that the American and the NATO coalition
forces are under increasing pressure to kill Ayman.
The Pakistani intelligence agencies have already been asked by the Americans
to help arrest four residents of the Bajaur Agency for allegedly harbouring
some top al Qaeda leaders including Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri. Pakistani
intelligence sources say the Americans have sought Pakistan’s help to arrest
four residents of Bajaur Agency including Maulana Shoaib Mansoor, Maulvi
Faqir Mohammad, Maulvi Mohammad Liaqat and Himmayatullah Khan, a dual
nationality holder of Afghanistan and Pakistan, who reportedly supervised
the travelling of Zawahiri and his contingent to the Damadola village of the
Bajaur Agency on January 10 and led them out of the village to a safe spot
the same night.
The sources say that the host of the meeting was Noor Muhammad, an active
member of a pro-Taliban militant organisation called
Tehrik-e-Sharea-al-Jihad, led by Maulana Shoaib Mansoor, the elder son of
late Maulavi Nasrullah Mansoor, a known commander who had been fighting
against the Northern Alliance troops along with the Taliban. The Tehrik had
been active even during the Afghan war. The other two wanted are Maulvi
Faqir Mohammad and Maulvi Mohammad Liaqat, the leading figures of the banned
militant organisation called Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Mohammadi (TNSM), led
by a jailed cleric Maulana Soofi Mohammad. The TNSM chief was accused of
leading hundreds of Pakistanis to Afghanistan in September-October 2001 to
fight against the US-led allied forces.
The intelligence sources say the four most wanted persons had been present
in the January 10 meeting at Damadola attended by some top al Qaeda and
Taliban leaders and presided over by Dr. Zawahiri. The intelligence sources
say that Maulana Shoaib Mansoor, the political heir of Maulana Maulvi
Nasrullah Mansoor, remains a source of inspiration for all the pro-jihad and
anti-US elements on the Pak-Afghan tribal belt. Since the fall of Kabul in
October 2001, Shoaib is learnt to have maintained an active contact with the
elusive Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. The intelligence sources even
suspect that during the American attack on Afghanistan in November 2001,
Maulvi Shoaib Mansoor was the one who had helped Zawahiri to escape from
Shahikot, a small town in Paktika district of Afghanistan. The Americans had
almost cornered Dr. Zawahiri at Shahikot after the fall of Kabul, but
Mansoor somehow managed his safe fleeing.
The Pakistani intelligence sleuths have further been informed by their
American counterparts that Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the former chief operational
commander of al Qaeda, who was projected as the No. 3 in al Qaeda, and who
was arrested from the Mardan area of NWFP in May 2005 and subsequently
handed over to the FBI, was reported to have been given shelter before his
arrest by the Mohmand tribe in the Mohmand sub-division of the Bajaur
Agency. The Mohmand sub-division is the stronghold of the TNSM. The TNSM was
banned by Pakistan on January 12, 2002.
According to the information provided to Pakistani agencies by Abu Faraj al-Libbi
during his interrogation, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri had once
been hiding in the Mohmand sub-division of the Bajaur Agency. On the basis
of his claim, the Pakistani agencies have been requested by the Americans to
undertake a cordon and search operation in the sub-division. The Pakistani
agencies have already nabbed two Uzbeks and four Afghans in the area, as
well as some Pakistani members of the TNSM, who were proclaimed offenders.
Yet the agencies failed to find any Arab belonging to the al Qaeda network
in the area. The sources said that it was largely on the basis of what Faraj
had revealed during interrogation, corroborated by other reports from tribal
sources that the American intelligence finally carried out the January 13
air raid in Bajaur Agency
Meeting of NA
Standing Committee on Interior held
Islamabad, 22 February 2006: A meeting
of standing committee on Interior of the national assembly was held today
attended by its opposition members Naheed Khan, Manzoor Wasan, Nayyar
Bokhari, Tehmina Daulatana, Fareed Piracha and the members from the treasury
benches. The interior minister and the prosecutor from the National
Accountability Bureau also attended the meeting.
The meeting was requisitioned by members national assembly Naheed Khan,
Tehmina Daulatana, Nayyar Bokhari, Manzoor Wasan and Fareed Piracha to
discuss the issue of red notices against the former prime minister and
chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and her spouse
Senator Asif Ali Zardari.
The opposition members of the standing committee on Interior posed several
questions regarding the issuance of red notice by the Interpol. They said
that this government move was totally biased and discriminatory against
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Senator Asif Ali Zardari. The asked
the government to put before the committee all the facts and proceedings
leading to the issuance of this red notice including all the correspondence
between the government agencies and departments and between the Pakistani
authorities and the Interpol. The demanded to put before the committee the
correspondence between Interior ministry and the National Accountability
Bureau, between National Accountability Bureau and the Interpol, between the
government of Pakistan and the Interpol and between Interpol Pakistan and
Interpol Lyon. They also demanded information about the current status of
the red notice. The Interior Minister promised to provide the entire
relevant correspondent in this regard to the committee.
The opposition members were very critical of the government’s action
against a former prime minister who has left the country with the due
permission of the court and there has been no conviction against her in
Pakistan. Her lawyers are representing her in all the concocted and false
cases instituted against her. Similarly Senator Asif Ali Zardari was
incarcerated for eight long years and had gone abroad with the full
knowledge of the government and currently he is being treated for his
illnesses caused by prolong incarceration without adequate medical
treatment. They asked the government that why the request for issuance of
red notices was made and who ordered to abuse the Interpol process. The
prosecutor representing National Accountability Bureau was unable to respond
to the questions asked by the opposition including under which law the
request was made to Interpol for issuance of red notice.
The opposition members also asked the government to inform the committee
that so far how many individuals including notorious criminals and
absconders, it has brought back in the country using Interpol, how many
cases are being processed for issuance of red notices against wanted
individuals and why the government acted selectively in using Interpol
against a former prime minister. The opposition members also questioned the
timing of the government action as the former prime minister was on a
lecture visit in the United States.
Mohtarma Bhutto
condoles with Justice Rana Bhagwandas
Islamabad, 21 February 2006:
Former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party, Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Senator Asif Ali Zardari have expressed deep
sorrow over the death of the mother of Justice Rana Bhagwandas.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in a condolence message addressed to Justice Rana
Bhagwandas wrote, "The loss of a parent is a great tragedy. Our sympathies
are with you at this difficult time. Please accept our heartfelt condolences
and convey the same to other members of the bereaved family."
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto also prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the soul of
the deceased in peace and courage to family members to bear this irreparable
loss with equanimity.
PPP urges
Commonwealth to exert pressure on the military regime for restoration of
democracy in Pakistan
Islamabad, 21 February 2006:
Makhdoom Amin Faheem, President Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians
welcoming the recent visit by the secretary General Commonwealth has hoped
that the Commonwealth will use its influence to ensure a transition to
democracy in Pakistan and put an end to the political witch-hunt in the
country so that the political prisoners, including the former Speaker of the
National Assembly are released, the exiles return, the special courts and
laws used against political leaders disbanded to enable the representatives
of the people to reform the country and take it on the path of progress and
moderation.
Makhdoom Amin Faheem in a letter addressed to Donal McKinnon detailing the
fast deteriorating economic, political and social condition of the country
under General Musharraf’s military regime wrote, "The rigging of the
elections of 2002 disempowered the people. To crush the representatives of
the people, the military regime pursues political vendetta through the so
called National Accountability Bureau, a front for military hardliners.
Meanwhile, according to the international Press, a part of the tribal areas
is being controlled by the Taliban who are now launching suicide bombers
into Afghanistan. This perception is highly dangerous for the well being of
Pakistan. In the province of Balochistan, the disenfranchisement of the
people and the foisting of a rigged Assembly and Cabinet has resulted in a
full scale insurgency. Vital installations of Pakistan are attacked
repeatedly. The economic situation has deteriorated as the regime has wasted
the financial dividends Pakistan got following the events of September 11 on
building a new General Headquarters for the military and purchasing
expensive aircraft with stories of commissions doing the rounds. The Press
is beaten if they report on allegations of abuse of office or corruption
pertaining to General Musharaf, his family and those close to him. The
political leadership created by the military dictatorship is not qualified
to govern the country. Under the law of the land, the PML-Q leadership was
debarred from contesting elections due to having not paid back their loans.
An election petition is still pending before the courts."
Regarding continued victimisation of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto by the military
regime, Makhdoom Amin Faheem wrote, "The regime continues its attempts to
break the PPP through malicious persecution of its leadership. Prime
Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was elected to the Parliament in 2002. To
stop her taking her seat, the regime passed an absentee law and through a
handpicked accountability judge sentenced her for being absent from court
when she was present in it through her attorney. She appealed and her
appeals are pending. Meantime, using the illegal edict and sentence to
prevent her taking office, the regime is trying to have Interpol involved in
its conspiracies by claiming to it that Prime Minister Bhutto is a fugitive.
Given her presence in the courts even as I write having appealed the
sentence, she is by no means a fugitive. In fact she is a symbol of
democracy in our country. We hope your office will take this matter up with
Interpol. For a decade the regime claimed that a property known as Rockwood
in Surrey was purchased through corrupt proceeds and belonged to Prime
Minister Bhutto. Now it has been proved through the Isle of Man High Court
judgment that the property was not owned by Prime Minister Bhutto who has
never even seen it. Moreover, despite the best efforts of the regime to
unethically create a conflict of interest with the Liquidator, the High
Court ruled that the charges of corruption were unproven. Frustrated by its
defeat in a foreign jurisdiction, and making no headway in Geneva where
investigations have recorded testimony that exonerate Prime Minister Bhutto
from wrong doing, the regime is now seeking to pressure the PPP leadership
by attempting to seize their property. This is not being done for corruption
or for any criminal act but on the account of "absenteeism" when the very
absenteeism has been challenged by the Prime Minister Bhutto and her husband
through the courts through her defence counsel through whom they are very
much present. If the regime spent as much time trying to catch Osama Bin
Laden as it does hounding the PPP leadership, perhaps he would no longer be
in hiding".
Urging Commonwealth to play its effective role for restoration of democracy
in Pakistan, he wrote, "The people of Pakistan are looking towards the
Commonwealth to help the country overcome the domestic crisis by elected a
truly representative government through elections in which all persons and
all Parties are free to contest. We seek the establishment of an interim
government, an independent Election Commission whose members, including the
Chief Election Commissioner, the Provincial Election Commissioners, the
Secretary to the Election Commission, the Chief Secretaries in the Provinces
and the High Court Chief Justices are all appointed in consultation with the
major political Parties and are non partisan, impartial and persons of
integrity. (I enclose an Election Paper with our suggestions for a
transparent poll). The people of Pakistan deserve better than a military
dictatorship that violates basic human rights. While the world community
accepts General Musharaf as a true ally who believes in enlightened
moderation, this is not the view of the people of Pakistan. For us he is a
military dictator who has trampled upon the constitution and who has allowed
extremist groups to flourish while making religious Parties governmental
allies to blackmail the world community with the threat that he stands
between them and the deluge. Nothing can be further than the truth".
"Unless the frustrations of the people are dealt with, unless there is
democracy, justice, human rights, respect for women and minorities, the
internal situation in Pakistan can only worsen and bring with it many
repercussions", he concluded.
Makhdoom Amin Faheem also requested the Secretary General Commonwealth to
circulate these PPP sentiments to the Ministerial Commission members.
Mohtarma Bhutto
condemns arrest of political workers
Demands release of all detained and withdrawal of cases
Islamabad February 20, 2006:
Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party and former Prime Minister Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto has condemned the arrest of political workers during the last
few days and the continued incarceration of political leaders on trumped up
charges of political nature.
"All those detained and incarcerated on trumped up political charges must be
released forthwith", she said in a statement today.
A large number of political workers were arrested during the last few days
including PML(N) MNA Khawaja Saad Rafiq, former federal minister and PPP
leader Mir Baz Khan Khetran, Chaudhry Zammarud Khan along with a large
number of political workers belonging to different political parties.
In a statement today the former Prime Minister said that the latest arrests
of political workers and the continued incarceration of Syed Yousuf Raza
Gillani, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Bisamillah Kakar and Peer Mukarramul Haq and
others was ample proof that the regime pursued a policy of political
victimization instead of punishing the corrupt.
Earlier the regime insisted on its hand picked judges in the accountability
courts to issue arrest warrants of Senator Asif Zardari even without
observing minimum legal formalities and even as Mr Zardari had sought
exemption on medical grounds and was duly represented by his defense
council, she said.
The hounding of opposition leaders and workers showed the desperation of
regime and its policy to blackmail and intimidate political opponents, she
said.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that the regime had staffed NAB with the
remnants of Jehadis of Zia era and given them the task of persecuting the
PPP and democratic opposition leaders as the known opponents of jehadi way
of resolving national and international conflicts.
The double standards of the regime and its policy of political persecution
had thoroughly exposed it, she said.
She said that in reply to a question in the Senate last week it transpired
that the NAB had illegally occupied 14 rooms in the federal lodges in
Islamabad as guesthouses whereas the same NAB had sent Yousuf Raza Gillani
to jail for using rooms of the same federal lodges allegedly illegally. She
said that the PPP had also taken the management of Fauji Foundation to NAB
for investigations into the underselling of Khoski Sugar Mill but no action
had yet been taken. As against this Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani has been
sentenced to seven years in jail for giving jobs to the poor people and
using rooms of federal lodges allegedly in violation of the rules.
Mohtarma Bhutto said that the regime neither had political nor moral
authority and demanded the immediate release of Yousuf Raza Gillani,
Makhddom Javed Hashmi, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Mir Baz Khan Khetran, Chaudhry
Zammarud Khan, Bismaillah Kakar and Peer Mukarramul Haq and all political
workers. She also demanded the withdrawal of cases against them.
Mohtarma Bhutto speaks at
conference on Women Leading Change
Says we can succeed by remaining true to values of democracy, pluralism and
development
Islamabad February 20, 2006: Former
Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto has urged investing in programs that help more women get
elected to office and appointed to leadership positions in government to
build stronger democracies.
She was speaking at a seminar organized by the Brookings Institute and the
US-Islamic world forum in Doha Qatar that had brought together leaders from
government, business and profession for a dialogue on the future and the
challenges faced by the women.
Identifying key challenges for women in the next five years Mohtarma Bhutto
said that foremost was providing education as ‘education leads to job
opportunities – opportunities that are critical to the empowerment of
women’. Second, Judicial Representation which was essential to the
dispensation of justice. Third, Law Enforcement: “We need women in the
police force and also police stations entirely run by women to address the
difficulties and social stigma women face when wishing to report crimes
against them”.
The fourth challenge facing the women she said was in the realm of Media.
“Many women are ignorant of their rights. An advertising campaign can inform
women that violence against them by their family members is illegal”
.
Fifth, she said that Women’s hostels are important so that women have a
place of shelter if abused by members of their family. Sixth: Availability
of child care centers to facilitate women who wish to work. Seventh Credit
for Women: “Women need access to credit to establish business of their
own”..
“As the first woman ever elected to head an Islamic nation, I feel a special
responsibility regarding issues that relate to women” and urged that women
rights must be promoted both by the US and the Islamic countries.
She said that the Quran is insistent on the full participation of women in
the society and the equality of men and women. Men and women perform Haj,
the Muslim Pilgrimage side by side. In Islam, neither gender can be superior
because it would be a contradiction of equality.
Women are also encouraged in Islam to contribute their opinions and ideas.
Bibi Khadeja, the wife of the Prophet (PBUH) was the first witness to Islam.
She was a working woman, a business woman, she said.
In terms of human rights, the Quran makes no distinction between men and
women.
Islam does not forbid a woman from holding important positions in
government. Abdur-Rahman Ibn Auf consulted many women before he recommended
Hazrat Uthman to be the Caliph.
The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) preached equal rights for women; now the task
before us all is to restore them in the Islamic World.
The fact that four Muslim countries (Pakistan, Bangla Desh, Turkey and
Indonesia) have had five female heads of government gives assurance that the
problems of women in Islamic societies can be seriously addressed.
She said that it is not easy for women in modern society, whether it’s in
Dhaka, Doha or Dallas.
Even though women's representation has been steadily increasing in
parliaments since 1990, women still only occupy a total of 16 percent of
seats worldwide. In the US Senate there are only 13 women Senators, while
there are only 3 to 4 women Governors. In the corporate world, there are
currently only 8 female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Women hold only 12%
of seats on Board of Directors of Fortune 500 companies, she said.
Mohtarma Bhutto said that in the Islamic World, there is the perception that
a good leader is inherently masculine. This is because men tend to evaluate
men more positively and women more negatively. Only recently, there has been
representation given to women in Parliaments of certain Islamic countries.
Women will be optimistic if there are more women role models in leadership.
She said that the PPP Government opened a woman’s bank, run by women for
women, -- although men could keep their money in it too if they wanted -
because we believed that economic independence is the key to social
equality.
She said that the women faced a choice, between education or ignorance and
between the past or the future.
She said that the model to expand rights for women has been embraced by
several young, progressive, reformist leaders -- King Mohamed VI of Morocco,
King Abdullah of Jordan, Sheik Hamad of Qatar and the leaders of the United
Arab Emirates.
About the style of women leadership she said that she thought that women
lead differently.
“Women leaders are more nurturing and sensitive to the social needs of
society. Invariably, women’s rights lead to further modernization of society
as educational, housing and health needs are finally met”.
She said that democracy alone was not enough. “Empowerment is not only the
right to become a Prime Minister. Empowerment is the right to be
economically independent. Empowerment is the right to be educated and make
choices”
She said that the next decade cannot be a decade of confrontation and
contention nor east vs. West nor men vs. women nor Islam vs. Christianity.
“That is what the enemies of dialogue want. We can succeed by remaining true
to the values of equality, democracy, pluralism and development”.
Following is the full text of her speech:
******************************
Women Leading Change
US Islamic World Forum
Feb 18-20, 2006
Doha, Qatar
As the first woman ever elected to head an Islamic nation, I feel a special
responsibility regarding issues that relate to women.
Women rights must be promoted both by the US and the Islamic countries.
The Quran and the Traditions of the Prophet are the sources from which every
Muslim derive their rights and duties.
Today people say that the women's liberation movement began in the 20th
century.
Actually- although it is not reflected in Muslim societies - the women's
rights movement is as old as Islam.
The Quran is insistent on the full participation of women in the society and
the equality of men and women.
Men and women perform Haj, the Muslim Pilgrimage side by side.
In Islam, neither gender can be superior because it would be a contradiction
of equality.
Women are also encouraged in Islam to contribute their opinions and ideas.
Bibi Khadeja, the wife of the Prophet (PBUH) was the first witness to Islam.
She was a working woman, a business woman.
A Muslim woman chooses her husband and keeps her name after marriage.
In terms of human rights, the Quran makes no distinction between men and
women.
Islam does not forbid a woman from holding important positions in
government. Abdur-Rahman Ibn Auf consulted many women before he recommended
Hazrat Uthman to be the Caliph.
The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) preached equal rights for women; now the task
before us all is to restore them in the Islamic World.
The fact that four Muslim countries (Pakistan, BanglaDesh, Turkey and
Indonesia) have had five female heads of government gives assurance that the
problems of women in Islamic societies can be seriously addressed.
To me, there is nothing more unIslamic than discrimination.
There is nothing more unIslamic than violence against women.
And above all, there is nothing more unIslamic than terrorism – the killing
of innocent men, women and children.
It is not easy for women in modern society, whether it’s in Dhaka, Doha or
Dallas.
Even though women's representation has been steadily increasing in
parliaments since 1990, women still only occupy a total of 16 percent of
seats worldwide.
In the US Senate there are only 13 women Senators, while there are only 3 to
4 women Governors.
In the corporate world, there are currently only 8 female CEOs of Fortune
500 companies. Women hold only 12% of seats on Board of Directors of Fortune
500 companies.
In the Islamic World, there is the perception that a good leader is
inherently masculine. This is because men tend to evaluate men more
positively and women more negatively. Only recently, there has been
representation given to women in Parliaments of certain Islamic countries.
Women will be optimistic if there are more women role models in leadership.
Key challenges for women in the next five years.
There needs to be more of a shift in investing in programs that help more
women get elected to office and appointed to leadership positions in
government to build stronger democracies.
First Education:
Education leads to job opportunities – opportunities that are critical to
the empowerment of women.
Second Judicial Representation:
Gender equality is essential to the dispensation of justice.
Third Law Enforcement:
We need women in the police force and also police stations entirely run by
women to address the difficulties and social stigma women face when wishing
to report crimes against them.
Fourth Media:
Many women are ignorant of their rights. An advertising campaign can inform
women that violence against them by their family members is illegal.
Fifth Hostels for Women:
Women’s hostels are important so that women have a place of shelter if
abused by members of their family.
Sixth: Availability of child care centers to facilitate women who wish to
work.
Seventh Credit for Women:
Women need access to credit to establish business of their own.
My Government opened a woman’s bank, run by women for women, -- although men
could keep their money in it too if they wanted - because we believed that
economic independence is the key to social equality.
This is the model of an Islamic society that must be sustained as one
billion Muslims reach a critical path in development.
There is a choice.
Education or ignorance.
The past or the future.
And central to this fork in the road is the status of women in Islamic
societies. Because where opportunities for women flourish, extremism
withers.
And at this critical time, this time of crisis, I see signs of change that
make me optimistic about the future.
The model to expand rights for women has been embraced by several young,
progressive, reformist leaders -- KingMohamed VI of Morocco, King Abdullah
of Jordan, Sheik Hamad of Qatar and the leaders of the United Arab
Emirates. These leaders are engaging in the delicate exercise of pushing
women forward to jump start societal change.
Step by step, empowerment cannot be denied.
Economic empowerment,
Legal empowerment,
The right to vote.
The right to hold office.
The right to lead.
Do women lead differently.
And I do think that women lead differently.
Maybe it’s stereotypical, but I think that women leaders are more nurturing
and sensitive to the social needs of society. Invariably, women’s rights
lead to further modernization of society as educational, housing and health
needs are finally met.
The US and the Islamic world can accelerate this process by making democracy
and pluralism a center piece of bilateral relations.
But let us be frank. Democracy -- alone -- is not enough.
Empowerment is not only the right to become a Prime Minister.
Empowerment is the right to be economically independent.
Empowerment is the right to be educated and make choices.
Empowerment is the right to have the opportunity to select a career.
Empowerment is the right to own property, to start a business, to flourish
in the marketplace.
Empowerment is the right to rationally plan and balance profession and
family.
So, ladies and gentlemen, the task of women over the next decade is
multidimensional.
The next decade cannot be a decade of confrontation and contention.
It cannot be east vs. West.
It cannot be men vs. women.
It cannot be Islam vs. Christianity.
That is what the enemies of dialogue want.
We can succeed by remaining true to the values of equality, democracy,
pluralism and development.
I thank the Amir of Qatar and the Brookings Institute for bringing us
together here in Doha to exchange views on the future.
Is Musharraf irreproachable?
Rauf Klasra
President Musharraf has always shown great condescension towards Benazir
Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif for their 'corrupt' activities; a Cabinet Division
report reveals that the president is not beyond reproach himself
A Cabinet Division report to the National Assembly of Pakistan has disclosed
that in the period 2003-2004, President Pervez Musharraf took home 63 gifts
(valued at Rs 9 million) given him by foreign dignitaries. These gifts
include gold and diamond jewelry worth Rs 7 million for which Gen Musharraf
only had to pay Rs 1.1 million under the rules.
The CD report, which gives detail of gifts presented to various officials by
foreign dignitaries and governments, was given to the National Assembly
after MNA Mrs Rubina Saadat Qaim Khani asked the Cabinet Division Minister
to provide to the house details of the gifts deposited in the Toshakhana
during the year 2003-2004. The MNA also wanted to know how much income was
generated through auction of these gifts during the period in question.
The report reveals that the Toshakhana held no auction during this period.
The officials who received these gifts retained most of them. President
Musharraf was the biggest beneficiary.
Official sources say that a public auction, if it were held, would have
brought millions to the coffers. While officials have broken no rule in
retaining the gifts, paying the 15 percent charge on all gifts exceeding Rs
400,000, critics raise several questions, especially in regard to
Musharraf’s decision to keep the gifts: why did Musharraf not refuse the
gifts even if he could retain them lawfully; should he not have done so to
prove that he is ‘above’ such things; why should he not have looked into
this practice and amended the law which facilitates the retention of gifts
by officials at just 15 percent of the total cost of gifts exceeding Rs
400,000?
In mid 2005, new instructions by the Cabinet Division prohibited all
government functionaries from accepting gifts from foreign representatives
stationed in Pakistan. According to these instructions, government
functionaries could only retain gifts according to a certain criteria while
all antiques gifted to a government official had to be handed over to
museums or art galleries. A rigorous procedure had to be followed before any
official could keep a gift given to him/her by a foreigner.
According to that official notification outlining the new procedures, “All
government/public functionaries, except the president and the head of the
government, are prohibited from receiving gifts of any kind for their person
or for their families from diplomats, consular and other foreign government
representatives who are stationed in Pakistan, or from any public
organisation or private individual and firm within the country”.
The Cabinet Division report presented before the NA says 265 gifts were
received during 2003-2004, out of which 194 were either retained free of
cost or by paying a small portion of the total price. Musharraf kept 63
gifts in this time period. “There are no lists for earlier years or the
number of items would perhaps be much greater,” said one observer.
Below is a list of some of the items retained by Musharraf:
Gold and Diamond necklace, purse and earrings worth Rs 115,000, Rs 275,000,
and Rs 125,500, respectively. Musharraf only paid Rs 75,000 for these three
items. Another jewelry set worth Rs 2.634 million was taken home by
Musharraf for Rs 393,658 only. In total, charges of Rs 3.3 million were
waived off this jewelry. He also kept yet another jewelry set worth Rs 4.7
million by paying only Rs 709,512 while Rs 4 million was waived off.
According to the Cabinet Division list, President Musharraf retained some of
the following gifts free of cost. The value of each item is given in
parenthesis:
Metallic tea set (Rs 4,000), decoration piece (Rs 4,000), Germanic tea set
(Rs 4,000), frame (Rs 8,500), wall mirror (Rs 7,000), jewelry box (Rs1,000),
rug (Rs2,500), metal decoration (Rs1,650), sari (Rs 1,200), carpet (Rs
4,000), flower vase (Rs 8,500), one Gens elephant (Rs3500), sari (Rs 2,500),
ladies wristwatch DeLaneau ( Rs 3,85,000), ladies wristwatch Ebel (Rs
3,50,000), watch (Rs 6,500), Versace pens (Rs 12,000), model of the Hajre
Aswad (Rs 17,000), sword (Rs 10,000), crystal bowl (Rs 4,000), carpet (Rs
18,000).
Naheed Khan ask general
Musharraf to resign immediately
Islamabad, 19 February, 2006:
Naheed Khan MNA the political secretary to the chairperson Pakistan
Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has asked general Musharraf to shed
his military uniform and presidency immediately as the government under his
illegal control has failed in all fronts from economy to law and order.
In a statement today Naheed Khan said that the only solution of the problems
brought by the military regime is to hold free and fair elections on the
Bangladeshi model establishing an interim government under Chief Justice and
an independent Election Commission comprising of scrupulous individuals like
Justice Fakhrauddin, Justice Samdani, Justice Majida Rizvi, Asma Jahangir
and Iqbal Haider. Every political party and every individual should be
allowed to take part in these elections.
Naheed Khan said that the military regime has once again started arresting
political workers of democratic parties. Islamabad has been turned into a
police state. She said that general Musharraf is following the footsteps of
earlier dictators General Ayub Khan, General Yahya Khan and General Ziaul
Haq and is bound to meet the similar fate as them. She said that the army
should go back to barracks where it belongs and leave the rumming of the
government to politicians. She said that the continued military regime in
Pakistan is proving dangerous for the future of the country.
PPP workers court hearing
today
Islamabad 19 February 2006: The case against PPP activists
accused of attacking the Parliament House in April 1998 will be heard in the
court of senior civil judge Islamabad on Monday February 20.
About fifty activists of the Party including Ms Naheed Khan MNA, Nayyer
Bokhari MNA, Shahzadi Kausar Gillani MLA Azad Kashmir, Senator Farhatullah
Babar, Qazi Sultan Mahmood, Syed Ibrar Rizvi, Babar Minhas, Syed Ibn-i-Rivi,
Shahnawaz, Shabbir Babar, Jehangir Akhtar, Majeed Niazi and Sohail Rumi
besides others have been charged with storming the Parliament building in
1998 and threatening the Speaker National Assembly.
The case was registered on April 22, 1998 when PPP activists staged a
protest rally outside the Parliament House against the anti-terrorism
legislation, which gave sweeping powers to the executive. The demonstrators
were forcibly dispersed when the police resorted to baton charge resulting
in injury to many Party workers and activists.
The protestors were demanding review of the law. Later the Supreme Court
struck down various provisions of the proposed legislation including the one
relating to the setting up of military courts to try terror cases.
A large number of protestors were arrested on the spot and sent to jail.
All were initially booked under the anti-terror law against which they were
protesting. Later however the government withdrew the terrorism charges and
booked the protestors under eight different sections of the Criminal
Procedure Code.
Meanwhile the PPP has asked all those named in the FIR to appear before the
court on Monday.
Mohtarma Bhutto
welcomes McKinnon’s statement on separation of Presidency and military
uniform
Writes to Commonwealth Secretary General exposing true face of military
dictatorship
Islamabad, 17 February 2006:
Former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto has welcomed the statements of the Commonwealth stating
“Pervez Musharraf must give up either the presidency or control over
Pakistan’s armed forces, when his current presidential term ends” and said
that stability in Pakistan and the region can only come through the
restoration of democracy in Pakistan.
In a letter to Don McKinnon, the Secretary General Commonwealth the former
Prime Minister wrote, “Since 1999 the people of Pakistan have had their
constitutional and democratic rights usurped by General Musharraf who seized
power through a coup d'etat. Under his leadership, the Pakistan Peoples
Party and other democratic forces have been persecuted and denied their
constitutional and democratic right to elect a government of their choice.
The rule of law and justice in the country has been sacrificed by the
military dictatorship with half the judges in the Supreme Court having been
removed through edict. There are scores of political exiles, prisoners and
persons victimised due to their political beliefs.”
Regarding the tilt of the military regime towards the fundamentalists and
use of religious extremism by the regime to prolong its hold on power,
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto wrote, “The military dictatorship has allowed the
leaders and members of religious parties full freedom of movement and the
right to form governments. This was done to blackmail the international
community with the Islamic card, namely a potential religious parties
takeover, to consolidate power. The real source of instability in the
country is the involvement of the military in the political affairs of the
country that has created ethnic and sectarian insecurity and instability”.
Further she said, “The Commonwealth is committed to promoting democracy
amongst its member states. People of Pakistan, who are hungry, unemployed
and suffering discrimination seek the early demilitarisation of our
political life”.
Explaining why the military dictators were continuing their stranglehold she
said, “It is reported that the military dictatorship is presently receiving
nine hundred million dollars in unbudgeted assistance as well as a further
six hundred million dollars in budgeted assistance. As such the military
dictatorship has a vested interest in continuing its stranglehold on power
by promoting the myth of takeover by an extremist party in Pakistan
consolidate its dictatorship.”
“The only protests that the military dictatorship allows are those that are
anti western. As such the military dictatorship sends out another message to
the people that the only acceptable and safe vehicle for them to protest is
to dress it up under the guise of an anti western rally or public meeting.
Otherwise section 144, prohibiting more than five people to gather, is
imposed.”
Detailing the heavy handedness against the democratic forces the former
Prime Minister wrote, “during his tenure, General Musharaf has done his best
to weaken the moderate political parties by forcing their leaders into
exile, denying them the right to form a government by postponing assembly
sessions indefinitely and fictionalisation by coercing or seducing members
into defections. He has also systematically rigged elections to send the
message that only those persons will be allowed to win who do not belong to
the moderate and popular leadership of the country. By seeking to weaken the
mainstream political parties, the military dictatorship would like to,
fraudulently, present itself as the only bulwark against an extremist take
over in a strategically key Muslim country. Such fears have fed
international support for the military dictatorship while witnessing growing
frustration and disempowerment inside the country.”
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto with her letter also sent a memorandum to the
Secretary General Commonwealth electoral reforms proposed by the Pakistan
Peoples Party calling for an interim government as in Bangladesh for holding
elections in which Chief Justice and other retired judges handover power to
the majority party after polls. No members of this caretaker government,
which may only hold office for 90 days, can contest the general election.
The memo suggests, an interim government, independent Election Commission,
disbandment of intelligence agencies (ISI, MI, IB etc.) from election
process, powers to the Commission to visit all monitory centres set up by
military and agencies etc. It also suggests the appointment of senior
members of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and respected
justices like Justice Fakhruddin, Justice Samdani, Justice Majida Rizvi, Ms.
Asma Jahangir, Mr. Iqbal Haider and others..
The memo also criticised the qualification criteria for the candidates for
National and Provincial Assembly in a country where literacy rate was low
and madrassah regularisation nil. It also demands a non-partisan monitoring
body that can penetrate the total number of seats contested on the model of
Carter Foundation. It also calls for elections for national assembly and
provincial assemblies on the same day. The memo also suggests allowing
multiple-identification process, rectification of delimitation of
constituencies, measures to stop pre-poll, during-poll and after-poll
rigging. It also calls for establishing polling both at populated easily
accessible areas, census preparation, role of judiciary under Election
Commission, transparent voting process, vote count and the announcement of
results locally.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has requested the Secretary General Commonwealth to
circulate the sentiments of the PPP to other members of the Ministerial
Commission.
The electoral reforms memo forwarded to the Secretary General along with
Mohtarma’s letter is enclosed.
************************************************
Pakistan Peoples Party
MEMO - ELECTORAL REFORMS 2006
I- INTRODUCTION
CARETAKER GOVERNMENT
The military regime of General Pervez Musharraf, having assumed all
embracing powers through the 17th Amendment, cannot be expected to hold free
and fair elections. To guarantee fair elections, Islamabad needs to follow
the Bangladeshi system. In Bangladesh an interim government is formed to
hold elections Chief Justice of Pakistan and other retired judges and hand
over power to the majority party. No member of this caretaker government,
which may only hold office for 90 days, can contest the general election.
ROLE OF INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES: Agencies have a major role in manipulating
the election. The political wing of the ISI should be disbanded. MI, ISI, IB
should be barred from meddling in elections and putting together political
parties, making it a criminal offence by a civil court for any court or
military official found so involved. The Election Commission should be
empowered to visit all monitoring centres set up by military and agencies.
These centres should be open to civil scrutiny and monitors
II. GENERAL PRINCIPLES:
The Election Commission: According to the Constitution of Pakistan, the
Election Commission is entrusted with the responsibility to conduct
elections, " honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with the law and
[ensure] that corrupt practices are guarded against". It has, in fact, been
a wilful colluder in the State's pursuit of election rigging and
manipulation through several contested and controversial electoral
exercises.
1. The Demands: Pakistan must have an independent Election Commission,
enjoying complete financial and administrative autonomy. The members of the
commission should be neutral people, preferably from the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan or other reputed civil society organisations.
i] The Chief Election Commissioner should be the last retiring Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and his appointment should be both seamless
and automatic. No election should be conducted by an Acting CEC.
ii] A candidate for membership of Election Commission must be qualified to
serve as a senior judge but cannot be a serving judge and need not be a
former member of the judiciary; must be free of political controversy if
holding previous public office and must not have been in active judicial
service or held an office for profit for a period of two years; a bipartisan
option would be to appoint senior members of the independent Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan or respected jurists like Justice Fakhruddin, Justice
Samdani, Justice Majida Rizvi, Ms. Asma Jehangir, Mr. Iqbal Haider.
iii] The CEC should be appointed for a fixed term of five years. He may not
be appointed to any other office, honorary or paid, after expiry of his
term.
iv] The Election Commission should consist of five members inclusive of the
CEC. There should be one member from each province, and one of these must be
a woman.
2. Caretaker Government: In the event of the dismissal of the National
Assembly, or the dissolution of the government by the Prime Minister, a
national government or a caretaker government of politically neutral persons
must be formed to supervise the general election. No member of this
caretaker government, which may only hold office for 90 days, can contest
the general election.
Franchise: Women and minorities still do not have adequate representation in
the legislature.
Elections must be held under the joint electorate system. Safeguards for the
representation of women and minorities must be ensured. There should be at
least one seat reserved for minorities in the NA and the Senate each. Women
must be given one-third representation on reserved seats for their indirect
election through the closed party list system on the basis of percentage of
votes received for the provincial elections of the number of the members of
that Provincial Assembly specified in the said clause.
The voting age should be fixed at 18 years, as envisaged in the 1973
Constitution.
The Senate elections should be held on the basis of Proportionate
Representation of each party in each provincial assembly.
Candidates Qualification Criteria: The qualification criteria of candidates
is one of the methods used to keep key players out of the electoral contest.
In the 2002 election candidates were required to be college graduates or to
provide certain madrassah certificates, which is a highly controversial and
selective screening mechanism for the democratic process in a country where
literacy rates are low, and madrassah regulations/standardisations virtually
nil.
The second most controversial and blatantly targeted rule devised for the
2002 election was the bar on candidates that have held Prime Minister's
office twice, ignoring the fact that no candidate since 1988 has been
allowed to complete any full term as PM.
The only qualification for a candidate should be that he/she be a Pakistani
and 25 years of age. [The Representation of People Act, 1976, must be
amended accordingly]
Election Observers: Given the contentious nature of elections in Pakistan,
in the context of the growing level of state control and manipulation of
both the electoral process as well as its contours, what is needed is a
non-partisan monitoring body that can penetrate the total number of seats
contested.
While the Carter Foundation [USA] provides a valuable example for local
non-partisan observer groups to model themselves on, a more useful
organization to look at might be closer to home: the Fair Election
Monitoring Alliance [FEMA] from Bangladesh. FEMA was established in 1995 as
a non-partisan coalition of over 200 local development organizations led by
prominent citizens to consolidate democracy through election monitoring,
voter education, and election law reform. It has subsequently built a
framework of local chapters at each of the 64 administrative districts in
the country. It was not only able to credibly monitor the last general
election, but also each by-poll and local government election as well. The
HRCP or similar organization could be tasked to set up such a monitoring
infrastructure with international assistance.
Simultaneous Poll: Polls for the National and Provincial Assemblies have
been held one after the other, with the result that the winning party in the
NA poll tends to tip the scales in the Provincial election which is held
later.
The elections to the National Assembly and the Provincial Assemblies should
be held on the same day. The ballot papers for the NA will have to be a
different colour than that of the PA.
National Identity Cards: The requirement of the NIC as the single source of
identification has led to abuse of the process. Identity cards forged by
impostors leave little option for the real voter to challenge the forgery.
NICs can also be seized by powerful mafias and rivals, particularly when the
income and power inequalities are accented in feudal and other
constituencies.
A multiple-identification process needs to be adopted to prove the identity
of the voter when challenged. Any form of identification valid under the
law, such as driver's license, pass-book, passport, gun license may be
accepted. Also, NICs that require renewal, such as the current one, impose a
severe fiscal and mobility burden on poor people, so they should be allowed
a life-term NIC, as was the case before 1999.
Delimitation of Constituencies: Constituencies should be compact and of a
uniform voter-strength. Anomalies detected in the past elections,
particularly those related to gerrymandering, must be judicially probed and
duly rectified.
The practice of carving up districts in order to break established
constituencies of political rivals must be stopped forthwith, and a Boundary
Commission on the UK model be established to restore constituencies to
non-ethnic and non-parochial criteria.
Pre-Poll Rigging: In the 2002 general election, state resources were
deployed on an unprecedented scale to ensure the success of the military
proxies. Governor House cars, offices and other effects of the government
were openly applied to the campaign effort of one party. Government
announced concessions and other development plans very close to the general
election and by-election campaign, distorting completely the level
playing-field expected from a free, fair election.
A strict ban on the use of state resources for election campaigning must be
imposed; the CEC must take suo moto notice of abuses and violators be
punished immediately. Elections where such obvious rigging has taken place
be declared null and void and a re-poll ordered in all such constituencies.
Punishments for Electoral Malpractices: Although provisions in the law exist
for punishment of corruption and malpractice by election officials, these
remain unimplemented, with the result that impunity has become the norm for
all such offenders.
The provisions for severe punishments for Returning Officers [Section 91 of
the Peoples Representation Act 1976] who display partiality must be
enforced. The provision should be extended to the District Returning Officer
and a method prescribed for giving speedy effect to the same. The existing
Section 91 be enhanced to include Presiding Officers, Asst Presiding
Officers, District Returning Officers, Returning Officers, Asst Returning
Officers. Disposal of appeals should not take more than three months, after
which punitive action against the complainant if found guilty, will
automatically take place.
Regarding stamping of ballots by Police, special tribunals should be
constituted to hear complaints against Police excesses, and punishments be
given through suspension or Blacklisting the ACR if found guilty.
Refund of Security Deposits: There is no concept of an election fee at the
moment for a candidate except the security deposit.
The security deposits of candidates should be made non-refundable.
Appellate Forums and Tribunals: Although the constitution provides for
election tribunals to decide petitions pertaining to election complaints,
the record clearly demonstrates that these tribunals delay decisions for so
long that their efficacy becomes negligible and their intent questionable.
Election cases originating from the opposition remain undecided for several
years, which make judicial inaction a clear component of electoral reform.
Election Tribunals need a strict time bar on their decision-making
framework. Disposal of appeals should take not more than three months. In
order to ensure the neutrality of election tribunals, they should consist of
people who have never handled political cases where neutrality is certified
by organizations such as HRCP. A neutral administration has to be
guaranteed, especially officials like the provincial Chief Secretary, Home
Secretary and IG should not have served in the MI, ISI or NAB. Measures
should be taken to give the Chief Election Commissioner sufficient powers to
ensure that he can function independently and free of any pressure from any
side. Rigging elections is a criminal offence. The response to a complaint
should not be limited to merely providing relief. The complainant should be
enabled to lodge criminal proceedings and the violators should be duly
punished for their crime.
III. CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS:
Election Campaign: Despite the announcement of an election schedule,
governments continue to manipulate the playing field for certain opposition
parties by imposing Section 144 [PPC] and restricting the fundamental right
of association for those it does not want to see winning. It deploys state
resources to advertise its candidates, often abusing the
government-controlled broadcast media as well.
All parties should be given an equal campaign time and not be subject to
arbitrary prohibitions on campaigning in specific areas which may be open to
certain other parties. All contesting parties should be allotted equal time
with the government in the state-controlled news bulletins as well as a
restriction placed on official or commercially sponsored campaign
commercials and advertising on television.
A ban on cloth banners, wall-chalking and outsized hoardings must be
enforced equally.
The government must not be allowed to misuse state resources such as
helicopters and vehicles after the announcement of an election schedule.
Violations of this rule should amount to a corrupt practice, with a
suspension of the violating candidate. However, vigilance must be maintained
to ensure that this rule does not get abused to target and victimize
opposition candidates who can then be disqualified under false charges.
Election Staff: The number of trained election staff is often an impediment
to the process of conducting and micro-managing an electoral exercise.
While the list of polling staff should continue to be drawn as per existing
practice, [in accordance with the provision of sub-section 1-5 of Section 9
of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1976] the number of trained polling
staff needs to be increased in order to deal with a larger number of polling
stations and voters.
The staff should comprise of government servants of the Federal and
Provincial governments as well as employees of the autonomous bodies.
During elections one member of the Commission, not belonging to the province
of his domicile, should be stationed in each province to monitor the
election process and provide prompt relief to the aggrieved party.
Revision of Electoral Rolls: Accurate electoral rolls are critical to a free
and fair election. For several general elections, the EC has not been able
to revise and update electoral rolls, which disenfranchises whole swathes
and UCs for the exercise. It has also been a convenient method of
eliminating opposition votes by simply removing voter's names. Candidates
are given one voters list i.e. Precinct and Polling station-wise, in order
to dupe them into believing that all names are included on the voter list.
Lists given to Presiding Officers are entirely different and have 25% to 30%
names missing and people are sent away on polling day, as they run here and
there, looking for their names on corresponding lists. Ultimately they are
unable to exercise their right to vote, as the candidates' list has them
registered at a particular polling station, but their names are missing from
the Presiding officer's list at the same polling station.
The last date for revision of electoral rolls should be fixed at one month
before the elections. Section 20 of the Electoral Rolls Act, 1974, be
amended to provide that the ECP shall notify the publication and
availability of the final/ revised Electoral Roll of the said constituency
not later than the date of notification of the contesting candidates.
The computerization of electoral rolls should be conducted at the District
level by the DROs and be made freely available.
The Election Commission should also make public the mode, procedure and law
under which the Electoral Rolls are compiled. Electoral lists should be
placed on an easily accessible website. Also, the electoral list of 2002
should be used with the addition of new voters since the NADRA registered
list that were used in the Local Bodies elections were faulty and
inaccurate.
Role of Judiciary: The District and Session Judges/Additional District and
Session Judges/Civil Judges should be put under the control of the Election
Commission of Pakistan for election purposes and they should be empowered to
entertain complaints and take immediate action against any one found
violating the electoral process. The candidate found involved may be
reported for disqualification and the Election Commission should be
authorized to take appropriate action after hearing the concerned parties.
Census Preparation: In view of re-fixing of voting age from 21 to 18 years,
a fresh census be immediately demanded as youthful voter, thus enrolled
would be prone to vote for the only liberal, progressive political party
headed by the dynamic Chairperson, who mesmerizes the youngsters.
Polling Stations: Polling stations are often moved or even simply removed by
the authorities in order to deprive entire zones of the right of franchise,
particularly in areas where the opposition vote bank is established and
strong. Ghost polling stations are forbidden under law, and yet they appear
at the last moment, with no one knowing whether they are real or virtual. It
also happens that military forces or Rangers are present inside polling
station in blatant disregard for the neutrality factor.
There needs to be a proper implementation of Election laws which do not
permit changing of polling station after announcement and review period. EU
and Commonwealth representatives should be present and military officials
should be kept out. The list of polling stations should be prepared 45 days
before the poll. The draft list should be supplied to all candidates 45 days
before and if there are objections these should be filed with a Committee of
the District Returning Officer, the Returning Officer and the Deputy
Election Commissioner. The Committee must give a decision on the objections
within three days and the final list must be notified in the official
gazette immediately, after which no changes can be made except on genuine
exceptional grounds which will require the express approval of the CEC.
The number of polling stations should be increased in any case to reduce the
problem of voter-transportation.
Polling Stations must be in government buildings in a populous area.
It should be possible to post applications for fresh voter registrations and
deletion of wrong names on the EC website. The entire operation should be
made transparent. The name of the polling station on which a voter has to
vote should be given against his name on the website. No changes in polling
stations can be made at least 45 days prior to elections. Any changes should
be properly notified so that general public is fully aware of the change.
Votes should be counted on polling stations and the counts should be put on
notice boards outside the polling stations. Progressive results based on the
counts received from polling stations should be announced on the media like
the procedure employed in the 1970 elections.
Implementation of Election laws which do not permit changing of polling
stations after announcement and review period.
Parallel vote count as in Philippines during Aquino election, by Bar
associations or NGOs, as numerous exist in Pakistan.
Kidnapping or interfering with movements of candidates, their proposers and
their seconders, must be checked. Presently people are kidnapped without any
compunctions and no action is taken against the perpetrators.
There must be district relief methods to address wrongful confinement of
candidates, polling agents and voters, and assist them to go to court.
Ballot Boxes: Ballot boxes are often tampered with in the electoral process,
with agents contesting pre-stuffed boxes at several stations. During the
Process of handing over the ballot papers to the Returning Officers and then
to the Presiding Officers, two things can occur: blank ballot papers are
given to favoured candidates who use them for multiple voting, and second,
boxes are filled at the Presiding officer's residence, who then switches the
boxes during the count.
Transparent ballot boxes, fitted with unbreakable plastic sheets on two
opposite sides should be made standard issue. Prototypes exist in the
Mexican Presidential election experience [1994].
Instruction Manual for the DROs, ROs, AROs: The manual for Returning
Officers at every level is outdated.
The manual should be revised to include all decisions taken for the
particular election by incorporating all new decisions and amendments in the
law.
The Vote-Count: The counting of votes is an essential component of ensuring
a fair election. It should occur at the polling-station level, as in the
1970 election. Instead, over the last four elections, the vote count has
gone from the Presiding Officer to the RO where candidates are disallowed
and central command centres and provincial authorities computerize the data.
This has made it susceptible to hacking into the Election Commission
computers leading to spoiling of votes and miscounting, after which winners
are announced. The candidates are then asked to go for a recount if they
desire, but by then no one takes any interest. We have non-transparent vote
counts taking place at the end of polling, where the candidate's agents are
often thrown out of the room and the vote-count is announced at a later
stage at the district headquarters, by which time the Returning Officer
announces a contested vote-count.
As soon as voting is over the counting of ballot papers should be conducted
transparently in the open. All candidates must be allowed a counting agent
who must always be present during vote-counting. If he or she is not present
the vote-count must be declared invalid. The Presiding Officer must write at
the back of each ballot the reason for its rejection, in the presence of the
public as well candidates' counting agents.
The Presiding Officers should not force polling agents to sign vote-count
statements before the votes have actually been counted. All agents must
counter-sign the statement of vote-count once counting is over, and each
must keep a copy of this vote-count slip.
The Presiding Officers should send vote-count statements and other documents
to Returning Officers directly in the supervision of the candidates' agents.
The agents must be allowed to accompany the ballot papers in the same
transportation vehicle taking the votes to the Returning Officer.
Instructions or demands that the vote-count statements be routed through
executive officers, police officers etc must be treated as a corrupt
practice. A secure van should take Presiding Officer and Polling Agents
securing top three votes to Returning Officer together.
No official from the intelligence or administration services should be
allowed into the vehicle.
Final count must be held at District level by the District Returning Officer
and should be indisputable, after having gone through the motions earlier
recommended.
Delay in Announcement of Results: With each successive election after the
1970 poll, the Election Commission has been delaying the announcement of
results. In the 2002 exercise, the commission announced the first results
from the remotest areas of the country well after the close of polling,
going suspiciously into the next day with 'revised' results coming out of
the central headquarters.
First, the Presiding officer and polling agent of winning/losing candidate
should be transported to R.O. office together, in order to ensure that the
Presiding officer does not go to a safe house to change results. To avoid
ghost votes appearing from nowhere in a centralized process, the results
should be immediately announced by the District Returning Officer or
Returning Officer as was the practice in every election before 1988. These
progressive results should continue being announced on television to avoid a
centrally rigged or contested count. The process of centralization should be
reversed.
Election results must be posted in real time on the EC website as well
announced on public media as they are received by Returning Officers.
Senate body meeting
requisitioned to discuss shifting of GHQ to Islamabad
Islamabad February 18, 2006: Three
opposition members of the Defense Committee of the Senate have requisitioned
a meeting of the Committee to discuss the building of the new GHQ complex in
the federal capital Islamabad.
The requisition notice submitted early this week by Senators Farhatullah
Babar and Rukhsana Zuberi of the PPPP and Sardar Mahab Khan of PML(N) says;
"Kindly take notice under section 163 (4) of the Rules of Procedure and
Conduct of Business in the Senate 1988 of our intention to requisition a
meeting of the Standing Committee on Defense & Defense Production to discuss
the building of a new GHQ in Islamabad".
An explanation given with the notice says, "The planned construction of a
new GHQ in Islamabad while a functional one already exists in Rawalpindi has
raised important issues of priorities and financing of the new of the new
project. These are important issues of public importance for which the
meeting of the Defense Committee be requisitioned".
Under the Rules a requisitioned meting has to be convened by the Chairman of
the Committee within two weeks of the notice and in the event of his being
unable to do so the Secretary of the Committee is required to convene the
meeting in three weeks.
Senator Nisar A. Memon is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defense.
The PPP has asked for reviewing the decision to shift the GHQ to Islamabad.
Addressing Pakistanis in New York last month the former Prime Minister and
Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has said
that it was irrational to spend money on building a second General
Headquarters next to the existing one while 58% of the people of Pakistan
live on less than $2 a day. The girl who is illiterate has no future but we
spend one billion dollars on SAAB aircraft even as we make peace with Indian
and make overtures to Israel and therefore face no imminent threat, she had
said.
She said that governing was essentially about making choices and about
deciding what is most important and must be addressed immediately. Governing
is deciding, in the words of the sociologist Harold Lasswell, who gets what,
when and how.
It may be mentioned that in a meeting on Dec 16 last year nine members of
the Committee belonging both to the government and opposition sides
including Committee Chairman Nisar Memon unanimously recommended that the
SAAB surveillance aircraft deal be reviewed and the plans for purchase of
two VVIP planes be cancelled.
However in an unprecedented move three days later another meeting of the
Committee was requisitioned which overturned the unanimous recommendation of
nine members and endorsed the government’s decision to the purchase of SAAB
surveillance aircrafts as well as the two VVIP aircrafts. Chairman Nisar A
Memon who had presided the previous meeting also presided the subsequent
minority meeting.
The opposition promptly condemned the move as "blatant and unprecedented
mockery of the Parliament and Parliamentary procedures, without parallel
that must put to shame any democrat in any country in any climate at any
time".
Under the Senate Rules 127 and 189 that pertain to resolutions and motions
respectively a motion shall not raise a question substantially identical
with the one on which the Senate has given a decision in the same session,
they said insisting also "the unanimous recommendation adopted at the Friday
Dec 16 meeting holds ground both under the law and practice".
The requisitioned meeting to consider the GHQ shifting is likely to be held
end of the month.
PPP Condemns Musharraf
regime’s denial of medical rights to pursue political vendetta
Islamabad, 16 February 2006: General
Secretary of PPP Parliamentarians and Member of National Assembly Raja
Pervez Ashraf has said that the decision of the handpicked accountability
court to accept the NAB claim to declare former Federal Minister Asif
Zardari a proclaimed offender is nothing short of an attempt to violate
Senator Zardari's medical rights and to deny him the right to medical
treatment which he urgently needs.
In a statement today the PPP leader said that Senator Zardari was in prison
for eight years and has already completed the sentences against him without
having being guilty for them.
He said that the decision of the accountability court, at the behest of NAB
to declare Senator Zardari a proclaimed offender in the politically
motivated assets case and to issue his arrest warrants is part of the
conspiracy that NAB has woven to involve Interpol in the extradition of
Senator Zardari with a view to deny him medical treatment.
Raja Pervez Ashraf said that the attempt to deny Senator Zardari medical
treatment is part of a grander strategy to threaten his family that unless
they accept the military dictator's usurpation of the rights of the people
of Pakistan, Senator Zardari's life could be in danger.
The military dictator General Musharraf is exploiting the war against terror
to commit systematic abuse of human rights against political opponents to
perpetuate his dictatorship.
He said that all Mr. Zardari's assets are through lawful means as the latest
judgement from the High Court of Isle of Man has demonstrated. Meanwhile the
corrupt elements are sitting in the Federal Cabinet with the collusion of
NAB who used corruption cases into blackmailing them into supporting
military dictatorship, he said.
The game of the regime is to threaten to confiscate legitimate assets
through fabricated cases with a view to blackmail the political leaders of
Pakistan into accepting military dictatorship. The PPP leadership refuses to
be blackmailed and hence the continuation of the decades long vendetta
against it, he said.
Senator Zardari will challenge the orders of the accountability court before
the relevant judicial authority.
Meanwhile NAB has calibrated the proceedings of the handpicked
accountability courts so that each one of them is holding proceedings in a
sequence.
PPP leader said that the NAB has already got the SGS accountability court to
arise from its slumber to hold a hearing on 22 February 2006.
"The NAB is falsely claiming that Interpol has declared former Prime
Minister Bhutto and Senator Zardari as proclaimed offenders".
He said that the fact is that it is NAB which has made the request to
Interpol to declare them offenders through a decision of its handpicked
accountability court of 2002 which is already under judicial challenge for
the last many years.
Raja Pervez Ashraf said that the former Prime Minister has made it clear
that if a court of law would require her presence she would return. She does
not fear extradition and has refused suggestions to seek political asylum,
put to her by those close to the authorities, claiming that Pakistan is her
country and she would not be threatened or intimidated into staying out at
the behest of the military dictator. Mohtarma has challenged the verdict of
the accountability court declaring her an absentee as she was present in
court through her defence counsel.
Charges of Corruption
"Unproven"
February 15, 2006
HE Rt. Hon. Donald C McKinnon
Secretary General
The Commonwealth
Marlborough House,
Pall Mall
London
UK
Dear Sir,
The Pakistan Peoples Party view that it was facing a politically motivated
persecution was vindicated when a Judge in the Isle of
Man gave a judgment stating that the charges of corruption were "unproven".
For a decade the PPP leadership was targeted through wrongful prosecution
spurred by hard liners in the military establishment who
remain hostile to the PPP. Consequently Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
was killed amongst international outrage in 1979. His two sons
were brutally murdered. His wife Begum Nusrat Bhutto, his daughter Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto, his son in law Asif Ali Zardari have
spent cumulatively twenty five years in prison. Since 1977 they have been
hunted and hounded but have never given up the torch
of Federalism, Democracy and Egalitarianism for the people of Pakistan.
The elements who support dictatorship in one form or another, view the PPP
led by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto as the biggest threat to
their exploitation and disempowerment of the people of Pakistan. Fabricated
criminal charges were drummed up to assassinate the
character of the Mohtarma and the PPP. Law was abused and judges invited to
conspire in bringing ruin and political elimination.
This conspiracy was foiled time and again by patriots who chose exile or
imprisonment over perjury and perversion of justice and by the courage of
the PPP
leadership which preferred prison to betrayal of the rights of the people of
Pakistan and the four provinces that make up the country.
In a country, where trade deficit is huge, where unemployment has a
staggering growth and where people are deprived of the basic necessities
of life, where domestic and foreign borrowings are constantly growing, one
is baffled at the amount of money (millions of dollars) spent to
pursue fictitious charges of corruption. They have been resorting to all
kinds of means, without realizing what implication it can cost to
the reputation of a self-respecting nation. The amount of money on hiring of
lawyers, commissioning detectives, briefing journalists with
false stories, foreign visits of NAB officials, mobilizing officials of the
foreign office has remai
