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Monday,
October 14, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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PPPP open to talks with radicals
Window on Pakistan |
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Asian monitors flay poll conduct Another killing near US capital Major Nepal parties to stay out of govt
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PPPP open to talks with radicals
Islamabad, October 13 Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) leader Mukhdhoom Amin Fahim, who returned last night from London after holding talks with Ms Bhutto, would begin meeting the leaders of various other political parties from tomorrow in order to gather support to form a coalition government to be headed by the party, PPPP spokesman Faratullah Babar said. Mr Fahim also told media on his arrival that Ms Bhutto had authorised him to talk to other parties, including the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) - an alliance of the hardline religious parties - to explore the chance of formation of government. “I have come with an open mind,” he said and expressed readiness to talk to any political party putting aside all past animosities and ideological differences. President Pervez Musharraf backed Pakistan Muslim League - Qaide Azam (PML - Q) has won a maximum of 77 seats in the October 10 elections while the PPPP has bagged 63 seats. The MMA has emerged as the third largest outfit with 45 seats. Asked about Ms Bhutto’s call for fresh elections, Mr Fahim said the process was monitored by her and she had given that statement in view of initial complaints. However, she agreed that the democratic process should be carried forward and the PPPP should look ahead for forming the government, he said. However, Mr Fahim was silent on reports that General Musharraf had proposed a coalition government headed by the PPPP with the support of PML-Q, provided Ms Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari agreed to stay away. The PPPP sources also expressed reservation on such a proposal because firstly it kept its leader out of the country and secondly an association with the PML-Q would mean that the party accepted the proxy leadership of General Musharraf. Such an alliance would also amount to endorsing the controversial amendments brought in by General Musharraf which were criticised by all major political parties. If it fails in its efforts to form a government on its term, the PPPP plans to build an anti-Musharraf platform with the MMA, the PML-N and other like-minded parties to defeat Musharraf’s constitutional amendments, the PPPP sources said. MMA leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed has also said that his alliance would begin talks with the like-minded parties. The PPP, however, said ideological differences with Islamists would make coalition-building difficult. “We have ideological differences with the MMA,” PPP Secretary Gen Raza Rabbani said. “But on the question of restoration of democracy, supremacy of the Parliament and the restoration of the Constitution of 1973, we are open for dialogue with all political parties.” PTI, Reuters
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MMA seeks changes
in Pak foreign policy Islamabad, October 13 “The government should change its foreign policy in the larger interests of the country and bring it in consonance with the aspirations of people”, Mr Qazi Hussain Ahmad, one of the leaders of the alliance — Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
(MMA) — which won 45 National Assembly seats, told the official APP news agency. With no party securing a majority, the MMA is expected to play a dominant role in the formation of the new government.
PTI |
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Window on Pakistan For the beleaguered people of Pakistan pre determined election results are before them. For Gen Pervez Musharraf, the master strategist for this guided democracy, it was all as he wished. There is a hung Parliament with his “king’s party” in the lead. While he has successfully kept the most popular parties, Pakistan Peoples Party and Muslim League (Nawaz) under tight leash and their leaders Benazir Bhutto and Sharif in exile, perhaps he did not bargain for such a strong showing by Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the party which has captured the sensitive North- Western Frontier Province and holds the balance in the new National Assembly. MMA is a loose grouping of Islamic parties which has successfully exploited the anti American sentiments. It is for the first time that an Islamic grouping has come up with such numbers. This would restrict the military ruler for the next five years from being cosier with the Americans. It should also be clear to the Americans that keeping the moderate politicians out of the fray and staging a sham elections does no good to them, much less to Pakistan. Interestingly as most newspapers suggested that some form of rigging is normal in elections, but this time Pakistan witnessed not only rigging during the polls, but there was lot of pre-poll rigging as well. The three previous elections came within 20 months to three years of being promised — 1990, 1993 and 1997. The man who had given a solemn oath to the nation to hold elections and transfer power within “90 days” held those in 1988 — after 11 long years. “That way, General Musharraf must be credited with abiding by his pledge and holding the promised elections within the time limit laid down by the Supreme Court,” English daily Dawn said. “Voter turnout was relatively low and the noise and bustle characteristic of such occasions was largely missing but that was no measure of the people’s lack of commitment to democracy. They believe passionately in democracy: invariably, it is their leaders who have sacrificed it on the altar of power and greed, or have harmed it through misgovernance and corruption.” The weekly Friday Times said: “General Musharraf had also explicitly determined refashioning the political system to reflect ‘true’ rather than ‘sham’ democracy. The core element of democracy, irrespective of the presidential or parliamentary nature of the political system, is civilian supremacy. But ‘Musharrafic democracy’ grants an institutional political role to the armed forces by permitting the National Security Council to put a gun to the head of every Parliament member, Prime Minister and Chief Minister and order them to do its bidding. ‘Musharrafic democracy’ required that no political party or group, least of all the PPP or PML(N), should be able to get a majority in Parliament and strike out on its own. This, in turn, had a good dose of pre-poll rigging – using the intelligence agencies, the NAB, and the courts to split the PML, bar Bhutto and the Sharifs, prop up the PML(Q), and encourage dissenters from all the “opposition” parties. Commenting on this, journalist Najam Sethi said: “It requires the continuing financial and political support of the international community, especially the USA, so that the constitutional instability built into such an unnatural structure is not allowed to adversely impact the economy and provoke a populist backlash against its creators. This, in turn, means that Musharrafic democracy must deliver the strategic requirements of the international community, especially the USA, at home and in the region and contend with its unpredictable consequences, or choose a more autonomous path and risk a destabilising rupture as happened with previous military dictators.” But nevertheless, the issue of the next Parliament’s oath of office, as well as its validation of General Musharraf’s Legal Framework Order, 2002 is the first test. The Supreme Court while dismissing a petition said that the issue is for Parliament to decide and that the SC is not the right forum for it. Not only has the SC again thrown the ball in Parliament’s court, it has also, indirectly, dismissed General Musharraf’s contention that those who disagree with his view should go to the Supreme Court because it has given him permission to amend the constitution. |
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Asian monitors flay poll conduct Islamabad, October 13 “Accusations that the authorities interfered with the electoral process are indeed unfortunate. This is just not true,” a statement released late last night by the Ministry of Information said. According to a preliminary EU report by the 88-strong observer team issued yesterday, the interference resulted in “serious flaws” in Pakistan’s election. It also rejected accusations that the Election Commission had failed to prevent such interference. The Pakistan Human Rights Commission and poll monitors from Asian countries also joined the EU in criticising the conduct of this week’s polls. The results cannot be described as wholly representative of the will of the electorate, although they do indicate the general directions of its preferences, HRCP said in its report released here. Not content with pre-poll manipulation of the electoral process, the administration seemed to have continued to tamper with it during the polling and afterwards, HRCP said adding it decided to delay its interim report by a day as the election did not apparently end with the counting of votes. Monitors from 11 Asian countries also accused the government of undermining fairness of the electoral process. “Some of the practices were serious enough to undermine the fairness of the elections”, Gen Sayud Kerdhpol, head of 42 member team of Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), said in its report published in daily ‘The News’ today. “Intimidation of candidates, biased amendments to the electoral framework, restrictive interpretation of campaign regulations prohibited a fully environment or equal opportunity for free and fair elections,” ANFREL said. AFP, PTI
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Another killing near US capital
Washington, October 13 “It’s not related,” a spokeswoman for the Prince George’s County Police Department said. “We were taking every precaution. But it’s not related,” she said. The shooting had forced the authorities to set up checkpoints on major highways around Washington on the assumption that it was the sniper who has claimed 10 victims, including eight dead, over the past 11 days. But the police reopened the highways after midnight. A box-shaped white truck was the focus yesterday of the hunt to snare the Tarot-card sniper who has traumatised the normally tranquil suburbs of the nation’s capital. The sniper, who uses a high-velocity rifle to pick off random victims while concealed in a sniper’s nest at a comfortable distance, remains at large despite a massive law enforcement operation, including the FBI. Physical evidence has been scant, with one taunting clue apparently left by the shooter near where a 13-year-old victim was shot: A Tarot “Death” card with the words “Dear Mr Policeman, I am God” scrawled on the back. The killings have sent shock waves throughout the region and re-energised the debate in the media if not among politicians, over gun control in the USA. The chillingly methodical killer claimed his 10th victim and eighth fatality on Friday, the police confirmed yesterday. Reuters
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Major Nepal parties to stay out of govt Kathmandu, October 13 The Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) said installation of Mr Lokendra Bahadur Chand as interim Prime Minister by King Gyanendra had widened the distance between the monarch and democratic powers. “Both the sacking of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and formation of an interim government are unconstitutional,’’ the Kantipur daily quoted CPN (UML) leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari as saying. “In view of the present turmoil, unity and agreement between the king and all democratic political powers is essential... but this move has widened the distance between the two.’’ Nepali Congress Central Committee member Nara Hari Acharya also ruled out his party joining the interim administration which he said was formed on an individual basis rather than party basis. “The new government has no power provided by the constitution,’’ he said. The Jana Morcha Nepal described installation of the new administration as an attempt to introduce an autocratic regime.
UNI, PTI |
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PRESIDENT
TAKES CONTROL OF ARMY SUCCESSION
BID: 4 MINISTERS QUIT SANCTIONS
IMPOSED ON ZIMBABWE FALWELL
APOLOGISES FOR REMARKS ARAFAT HOLDS TALKS TO FORM CABINET 
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In video: The European Union issued a damning
report on the general elections in Pakistan, saying the vote had been
seriously flawed. (
