Over to new leaders

By I. A. Rehman

DAWN - 21 February, 2008

THE poor, dumb, illiterate voters have done it again. They have maintained their tradition of cleaning the politicians' stables every nine or ten years and securing for their elected representatives opportunities to establish a system of governance that is democratic, sensitive to the people's sorrows and their aspirations, and responsible to them.
What the masses did on one of the most radiant Mondays in Pakistan's political history was not easy. The attempt by the arrogant members of the executive to influence their choice and pre-determine the electoral outcome may have been largely foiled in the final round, it need not be forgotten.
Everyone knows about the cheques and bags of flour that were being distributed in Lahore on the eve of the election or the canvassing for the King's party done by the mightiest in the land by predicting its triumph. The people's success in overcoming these factors makes their effort all the more impressive. They deserve credit for Monday's vindication of the majesty of the ballot more than anyone else. They made the final lap of the race somewhat credible, the earlier laps were not.
The media is a close second on the roll of honour, for they stuck to their job despite provocations and not only made the hurdles placed in their way ineffective, they also made the curbs placed on them look ridiculous. The voters' achievement can be summed up in a few words. They left no room for doubting their comprehensive repudiation of the regime and the way they have been governed for many years.
By calling off the bluff of trouble-makers they reaffirmed the fact that gatherings that demonstrate freedom from fear of violence are not likely to be interfered with. They kept the rate of turnout abreast of the requirement and at places it exceeded 50 per cent.
The voting pattern had quite a few notable features. In three provinces the establishment party was routed and it survived only in Balochistan because the potential winners there, the nationalists became more serious about the poll boycott than the authors of the idea. While the political parties invited criticism for their lack of planning and preparation the voters did not display any such shortcoming. They respected the multi-ethnic character of the provincial entities and avoided voting exclusively along ethnic lines. And they have obliged the various pretenders to the seat of power to learn the art of governance by coalition which must in all circumstances be based on the principle of inter-party consensus.
That Pakistan's crises have been aggravated to such an extent that they cannot be adequately addressed by any single party is quite widely understood. Even a government of national consensus will realise the need for patient application to the task of creating a reasonably efficient order. The split-vote in almost all parts of the country means that there is no alternative to a sincere search for national consensus and reconciliation.
Let nobody presume that democracy has been restored, only the journey towards this goal has began. No election guarantees change and fulfilment of people's expectations. It may be suicidal to take the establishment for granted. Its capacity to protect itself by exploiting differences between the major political actors must not be discounted. The danger that democratic politics could be undermined by a replay of the centre-province confrontation such as was witnessed after the 1988 election has already been noted in public debate and it must not be ignored. Whatever the nature and composition of new governments at the centre and in the federating units, it will obviously be necessary to keep personal ambitions of the front runners in check.
Those capable of staying out of power may last in public favour longer then those rushing to assume responsibility for what must for quite some time be unpopular decisions.
In order to be able to fully respect the electorate's verdict in favour of change the new governments will need to be clear about their priorities. Essentially this applies to the PPP and the PML-N. Fortunately both of them reaffirmed their commitment to the Charter of Democracy in their election manifestos. Their ability to deliver on the people's expectation will depend on the degree of their faithfulness to the charter.
The new governments will start off well by recognising that democratic governance will not be ushered in with their oath taking. Their most formidable task will be to lay the foundations of democratic institutions, beginning with resurrection of the parliamentary system, which consists mainly of rule by a cabinet totally responsible to and guided by parliament. A speedy revival of parliament as the locus of state authority will be necessary for evolving the system of responsible governance. Pakistan has suffered a great deal over the past decades because of its rulers' tendency to avoid interaction with the people during inter-election years.
Mature politicians do not always talk down to their people; they listen to them and are not shy of learning from them. It is time to free political parties of the stigma that their sole purpose is to manage periodic elections.
Now is the time for democratic political parties, to establish mechanisms for a two-way flow of ideas between party leaders and the cadres so that the choice of candidates for elective offices can be made solely on the basis of one's talent, skill and record of public service. The only defence democratic forces can build against their authoritarian rivals lies in broadening the base of governance, the greater the number of the people in power the stronger and more benevolent the democratic system will be.
Of course, there will be pressure on the new rulers to resolve the issues that have fuelled agitation and discontent over the past many months. These are: restoration of the judiciary and its status as an organ of the state by no means inferior to either of the two other state pillars; resolution of the causes of discord over the presidency and a redesigning of its constitutional role; the need to build up a federation of duly autonomous partners; the urgency of devising effective means to overcome militancy and extremism; and the pressing demand to guarantee the disadvantaged hordes freedom from want through gainful employment, social security and advancement of women's and children's rights.
Fortunately the electorate has created possibilities for resolving all of these matters. None of these issues is new, and the causes of failure in the past to deal with them should be kept in mind. Quite often the democratic forces make the going difficult by poor manoeuvrings against their adversaries. Efforts to address the critical priorities must begin straightaway because delay in facing a crisis is the surest way to perpetuate it and make it progressively more intractable.
But the temptation to find instant solutions to complex issues through hasty and ill-planned initiatives can be as damaging as inaction. The new leaders will improve the chances of their success if they can learn to take the people into confidence and to take them along. Broadest possible public support to their enterprise alone can assure the new leaders of the minimum necessary comfort on what is manifestly a bed of thorns. Only the fittest to govern will survive.

Advocates on the move: Meeting Aitzaz Ahsan

Farooq Tariq

Labor Party Pakistan

We were today at Lahore High Court to participate in their Thursday weekly protest rally. Every Thursday, the advocates take out rallies. In Lahore, the advocates come from two different places and then join hands at Lahore High Court building. Here is what our observations are.

Over 4000 advocates marched on the main Mall Road of Lahore in a very defiant mood. They chanted slogans with full throat and vowed to continue struggle until end of military dictatorship and restoration of judiciary.

“Go Musharaf Go, Friends of Musharaf are traitors, You and me are dying with hunger, because the General Head Quarters Military (GHQ) has looted every thing, The black coats movement will win, Friends of Americans are traitors, Going with Musharaf will dig its own graveyard, We will prevail, restore our judges, down with those taking oath under PCO, Listen Chief (the deposed chief justice Iftikhar Choudry) we will die for you, The black coat will end Musharaf dictatorship, were some of the slogans raised at the rally.

They had earlier gathered at the hall of Lahore Bar Association and Karachi Hall at Lahore High Court. At Lahore Bar Association general body meeting, Justice Khawaja Sharif spoke and at Lahore High Court, Justice Shaihd Siddique and Justice Shafqat spoke of great movement of the advocates for the independence of judiciary. Later, Chief Justice Iftikhar Choudry spoke to Lahore High Court Bar Association members on telephone from Islamabad, where is detained at his home. Advocates were in a rebellion mood and were warning repeatedly to the future government of Pakistan Peoples Party.

“If they join hands with Musharaf, the struggle will be against them as well,” They praised the people of Pakistan who have voted against Musharaf. It seems that the movement has once again picked up to new heights. There were advocates from all ages and many elderly advocates were raising slogans like the young ones. The young ones were leading the rally with a great enthusiasm. The women advocates were raising many slogans as well.

One young advocate could raise slogans for many minutes continuously, winning many appreciations by the participants. She had almost made a song that she expressed in slogans along with her colleagues. Later in the afternoon, 10 of us went to the house of Aitzaz Ahsan, the president of Supreme Court Bar Association. We heard on the radio that he is again detained at his house after yesterday speech to the demonstrators who gathered at his house. There was a lot of police outside his house. We went in his office, which is situated at the back of his house.
There were over 30 present in the office.

His secretary Aftab welcomed us and told us that he cannot come out of his house. As we were writing messages for him, and handing over Weekly Mazdoor Jeddojuhd Faiz number, Aitzaz Ahsan just came over to the office to the surprise of every one. He was very pleased to see us over there. He spoke a lot of word of praise for the contribution of Labour Party Pakistan during the struggle of advocates. He particularly thanked me for all the enthusiasm we are bringing in the movement. He appealed to every one there to be ready for 9 March to reach Islamabad if judges are not restored. That will be the main preparation for every one in Pakistan.

He said he has just come out of his house to greet us briefly. The police officials were there but did not intervene or asked him to go inside the house. Earlier, on the radio, I heard that Punjab Government home secretary has issued strict orders that no one can meet Aitzaz and that Aitzaz has broken the law yesterday by coming out of his house to join the demonstration briefly.

It seems that the Punjab government has lost its control over its institutions of repression and the police was not doing what they were asked to do. We left his house after this brief encounter with Aitzaz, he was very happy and was eager to show his commitment to continue the struggle till the end of dictatorship.

PPP, PML-N to form coalition government

Nawaz says no disagreement on judges' restoration

ISLAMABAD: Following his meeting with PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari, Pakistan Muslim League (N) Chief Nawaz Sharif said the PPP and PML-N will follow the agenda laid out in the Charter of Democracy.

He was addressing a joint press conference with PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari after their one-hour meeting at Zardari House, where both the leaders announced the formation of a joint government in the centre and the provinces.

Both the leaders unanimously decided to restore the 1973 constitution.

Responding to a question, Nawaz Sharif said that they would not take any help from Musharraf. “I would have done so before the elections, if I had such an intention,” he added.

Both the leaders announced that the UN would be asked to investigate into the murder of Benazir Bhutto. Nawaz Sharif maintained that there is no difference in the two parties on the restoration of the deposed judges.

“We accept the mandate of PPP with an open heart and wish that PPP complete its five year term,” he said, adding, “struggle for restoration of judiciary will continue and the Charter of Democracy will also be followed.”

PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari said PPP and PML-N have decided to work together for democracy. However, he said, some of the matter are yet to be decided by the parties. Zardari said that both the leaders have decided to stay united in the parliament. Nawaz Sharif added, ‘We fought against the dictatorship and will keep doing so.’

Tear gas fired at protesting Pakistani lawyers

KARACHI, Feb 21 (AFP) - Police fired tear gas in Karachi Thursday as lawyers in Pakistan opposed to President Pervez Musharraf took to the streets in the first protests since Monday's elections. Police baton-charged and fired tear gas shells at lawyers protesting in Karachi to have judges reinstated after Musharraf sacked them last year.

Six people, including lawyers, were arrested outside the district court, police said. “We have arrested a few people and police had to use tear gas to disperse lawyers who were trying to hold a rally,” senior police official Tahir Naved told AFP. In the eastern city of Lahore, about 2,000 lawyers chanted, “Go Musharraf, go” and, “Restore independence of judiciary” during a rally.

They staged a protest sit-in outside the provincial parliament before dispersing peacefully. Similar rallies and meetings were held by lawyers in other cities across Pakistan to protest against President Musharraf’s declaration of emergency on November 3, and sacking of 63 judges including the then chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who was also detained at his home. Lawyers across Pakistan have held regular Thursday demonstrations since the judges' dismissal and have threatened a large-scale march on Islamabad next month if they are not reinstated.

PPP, PML-N and ANP hold talks in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Leaders from three major winners in the recent elections, the PPP, the PML-N and the ANP were in contact for the formation of government today in Islamabad. The parties were holding consultations ahead of a summit meeting in Islamabad today (Thursday), sources said.

PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari, PML-N Quaid Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali will hold consultations here in a meeting to reach a consensus over some crucial issues such as restoration of the deposed judges, strengthening of national institutions, future of the president and other major issues.

Mian Nawaz Sharif and Asfandyar Wali reached Islamabad today for the meeting. The central executive committee of Pakistan Peoples Party held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the post-election scenario, while the PML-N central working committee meeting today in Islamabad.

No constitutional hurdle to reinstatement of deposed judges: Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry

In a telephone address on Thursday to the Sindh High Court Bar Association, deposed chief justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said there were no constitutional hurdles to returning the judges to their posts.

“I was deposed by an executive order and I can be restored by an executive order. There is no need of two-thirds majority of the parliament,” Justice Chaudhry said. “People have given their verdict, which shows that they have rejected the policies of the government,” Justice Chaudhry said from his home in Islamabad, where he was still under detention.

In a similar address to lawyers in Lahore, he said it was now the responsibility of political parties trying to form a ruling coalition to “work for the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and reinstatement of judges.” He said he remains chief justice and all the others dismissed in November “remain the judges legally. There is no hurdle in the reinstatement of judges, it needs only a simple official notification,” he said.

Aitzaz warns of long march if Judiciary not freed until March 9

(Courtesy GEO)

LAHORE: President, Supreme Court Bar Association Aitezaz Ahsan came out of his residence on Wednesday evening, where people in hundreds welcomed him and raised him on their shoulders.
People representing civil society and lawyers in large numbers were carrying placards of the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, whose release orders have not been issued as yet.

Addressing the people present there, Aitezaz Ahsan said, ‘I am thankful to the representatives of civil society, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, women and men who came up for my release and have been staying back to support me.’ He said the people themselves took him out without any official orders.

He said a Punjab government official came with a piece of paper and asked him to an apology that elections are over and that ‘He will not undertake any political activity.’

Ahsan said that he rejected the offer by government, adding, ‘The day of everybody’s freedom is coming up.’ Aitezaz Ahsan warned to launch a long march towards Islamabad, if the judges are not restored until March 9.

Commenting on the elections results, he said he is pleased at them and congratulates the successful candidates, adding Pervez Musharraf kept canvassing for Q-League; however, the number of seats of his party was restricted to 38, thus, the anti-Musharraf votes were 86 percent in the recent elections.

Aitezaz thanked the media, which came instrumental in propagating ‘our message’ and give currency to it. A society cannot be free with a judiciary in chains, he added.

EU monitors point out poll irregularities

(Courtesy DAWN)

ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: The European Union has criticised the government for its failure to provide a level playing field in the electoral process. It has also pointed out ‘procedural irregularities and institutional inadequacies’.

“The elections were competitive,… but there were significant problems with the election framework and environment,” according to the preliminary assessment of the European Union Election Observation Mission released at a press conference here on Wednesday. The final report will be released in April.

The EU mission had the largest contingent of foreign poll observers who covered 65 per cent of the constituencies. It will also monitor post-election developments, including complaints and appeals.“A level playing field was not provided to the competitors with the authorities favouring the Pakistan Muslim League (Q),” said chief observer Michael Gahler, adding that the ruling parties “profited from the support”.

Mr Gahler said the involvement of the authorities included a multi-fold clout of institutions, including the local government nazims.He said the observation was independent of the results.“Nazims were directly involved in campaigning activity and misuse of state resources in their areas, mostly on behalf of PML-Q candidates. There were credible reports of police harassment of opposition party workers and agents. Some candidates across the board placed undue pressure on public authorities within their constituency to make public resources available to them,” the report said.

“The public broadcasters, the main source of information for most of the population, failed to live up to their responsibility to maintain balance. They provided substantial coverage of the president, government and the PML-Q and limited coverage of other parties,” it said.

Private television channels provided candidates and parties with pluralistic coverage, it said.

The report said people did not have confidence in the independence of the Election Commission.

“Statements of the count were not always issued to agents and were generally not displayed. Observers and candidates’ agents were not granted sufficient access to results compilation at the constituency level. Very few returning officers displayed constituency results with a breakdown by polling station -- a basic transparency requirement.”

Nevertheless, it said, on the whole counting was well conducted in the stations observed.Robert Evans, head of the EU Parliament delegation, said: “The election period has shown the strong desire of the Pakistani people for democracy and the rule of law.”

He said the holding of elections in a peaceful manner was the first sign of peaceful transition of power.

Massive fraud! - An Eyewitness Account

Erik de Bruyn

Erik de Bruyn, leader of the left wing of the Flemish Socialist Party in Belgium has been invited by the PPP to monitor the elections in Pakistan. In particular he is monitoring the elections in the industrial belt of Karachi (NA 257) where the PPP candidate Riaz Lund is challenging the ruling extreme right wing party, the MQM. Here what his personal report on day of election.

Yesterday started with hope, as you can see from my earlier report. But what I saw yesterday made me realise that this Election Day was just the beginning of a very long struggle of liberation of the people of Pakistan. Yesterday I visited some twenty 'sensitive' polling stations. All of them are in an area dominated by the MQM, the party in power in Karachi and the Sindh Province and the local pillar of the Musharraf regime.

When I say 'dominated' you have to take this quite literally. In theory all parties have the right to send scrutineers to the polling stations. In this area I saw only twenty percent of stations with PPP scrutineers. Other opposition parties were not even to be seen. How is this possible? The scrutineers present are incredibly courageous people. They suffer ill treatment, are sometimes abducted and often even killed by the parties in power. A collaborator of an independent NGO told me that yesterday official figures indicated that 15 scrutineers of the PPP were assassinated in the whole country. Most of the 27 people killed yesterday were scrutineers at polling stations, quite apart from the abductions, torture, etc. Last night two PPP women activists in Karachi were still missing. We tried to compensate for the absence of a sufficient number of PPP scrutineers by organising a kind of flying picket in this 'sensitive zone'.
The forms with the electoral results being changed or filled in at the central counting office of the NA-257 district, where the data should only be collected and counted.

The absence of PPP scrutineers was not the only thing I saw: some polling stations were decorated as headquarters of the MQM. Election forms which had already been filled in (pro-MQM of course) were strewn around the tables ready to get stamped by the officials, identification papers of people who are not on the electoral rolls (in other words people who do not exist), suitcases filled with election forms which were either not sealed or badly sealed. Some of the cases of fraud were solved by our presence and intervention. Some 900 MQM votes have been declared null and void as a result of these irregularities.

However, the worst was yet to come. In the evening I went to the central counting office of the NA 257 district. What I saw and photographed there defies everything imaginable. Stacks of bags full of election forms were broken open. Forms were being filled in or changed in the corridors of the court hall. Other original forms were thrown away. Thanks to our pressure and the presence of the local media, a local president of the polling station was arrested and taken away. But will it surprise you to learn that the PPP candidate Riaz Lund, who in the evening was winning with 15,000 votes in 50 out of the 198 polling stations, has officially lost the election?

Muneer A Malik's Press Release regarding elections

Sheikh Rashid leaves Pakistan

(Courtesy The News)

KARACHI: Disgraced and defeated PML-Q leader Sheikh Rashid left Pakistan on Monday night for Spain after he was rejected by the people of Rawalpindi in Monday's massive anti-PML-Q sweep. The outspoken leader had earlier booked a flight to Dubai from Islamabad but when the story leaked to the media, he cancelled it. Later, he quietly took a flight to Karachi and then sneaked out of the country, unable to face the humiliation and possibly charges of corruption under a new government of PML-N and PPP leaders. Authorities posted Rangers around the Lal Haveli in Rawalpindi to protect it from the wrath of Pindiites.

140% turnout in Karachi

PPP and PML-N has demanded the results of Karachi to be canceled as up to 140% turnout has been reported at some polling stations. They said that the Karachi was held hostage under MQM and up to 65,000 votes were casted in areas where previously not more than 4,000 votes were casted earlier.

PMLN and PPP also said that they have collected proofs of rigging.

More reports of rigging can be seen at:
http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/
http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2008/02/18/election-irregularities-being-reported-on-other-blogs/

It is really impressive that the opposition was still able to win amidst all this rigging.

In other news, Sheikh Rashid, has left Pakistan after being humiliated in these elections. He lost both his seats, one by a margin of about 46,000 and the other by a margin of 62,000 votes. Last time he was elected from both. News report can be seen below. Let's see how many of the Q-Leaguers will flee the country (to join Shaukat Aziz) and how many will join the opposition.

The hands that help you vote, can't rock the ballot

Urooj Zia

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Karachi: At least 100,000 eligible voters in the city were not able to cast their votes on Monday merely because they had been appointed as presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, polling officers and district returning officers (DROs) at polling stations that were far away from their home constituencies. This number also includes the 27,000 policemen and 10,000 Rangers personnel who were called up for election duty in order to maintain peace during the polling process in the city on February 18.
On Monday, approximately 3,487 polling stations had been set up in Karachi. Each polling station had, on average, four polling booths (the actual number varied between two booths to eight booths per polling station). One presiding officer, one assistant presiding officer, and two polling officers – one each for the national assembly seat and the provincial assembly seat – had been appointed at each polling booth.
All of these government officials had, however, been deputed at polling stations that were far away from the stations where they were supposed to cast their own votes. "I've been on election duty for the past 17 years," one official at a polling station for NA-253 said. "I'm always deputed to stations that are far away from my house. Our duty at the polling stations that we're deputed to starts at 08:00 a.m. and goes on beyond 05:00 p.m. [until the votes are counted and the results announced]. Polling times at the stations that we're supposed to cast our votes at are also from 08:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. Therefore, even though I've been working to ensure that polling goes smoothly, I myself have never been able to vote."
Similar sentiments were echoed by most polling officials deputed at other stations in the city. A female presiding officer at a polling booth in North Nazimabad told The News that she was a lecturer at a government university, and had done her best to make sure that all her students voted on February 18. On polling day, however, she herself was stuck miles away from her home constituency.
Law-enforcement officials that The News spoke to on Monday also lamented the fact that they were not able to vote. 'We've been on duty since 04:00 a.m. We wanted to vote, but can't, because we're still on duty and can't leave our posts,' a group of policemen said at around 02:00 p.m.
"The government should set up a method for proxy voting for us," one presiding officer said. "This way we'll be able to accomplish the duties assigned to us on polling day, as well as exercise our Constitutional right to vote."

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Voting For Change

Beena Sarwar

KARACHI, Feb 19 (IPS) - With unofficial results for Pakistan's general elections heralding major upsets for President Pervez Musharraf's allies, the message was loud and clear: despite the pre-poll manipulations and irregularities voters have rejected the politics of hate and religious extremism.
Though final results are yet to be announced, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N), led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated on Dec. 27, have emerged as the two largest parties -- routing the pro-Musharraf, Pakistan Muslim League - Quaid (PML-Q).
Sharif and Asif Zardari, widower of Bhutto and leader of the PPP, are now discussing the possibility of forming a coalition government.
Some 45.6 percent of the electorate turned out to vote, according to the Election Commission (EC), confounding predictions of poor voter turnout expected due to the high levels of pre-poll violence coupled with the move by several political parties to boycott the polls.
The elections have been unprecedented on many counts. The election schedule was announced on Nov. 20 during the emergency rule imposed by Musharraf, then army chief as well as president. On Nov. 3, 2007, Musharraf essentially conducted a coup against himself, commented Mohammed Hanif, head of the BBC Urdu service at the time: "Faced with increasing demands to give up his position as military chief and confront the complexities of civilian rule, Gen. Musharraf decided to topple President Musharraf."
Musharraf had initially indicated that the elections would be held under emergency rule but faced with intense international and domestic pressure, he lifted the emergency on Dec. 15, but not before he had taken oath as a civilian president and made as many as 15 amendments to the constitution that gave this office more powers.
Musharraf also sacked nearly 60 members of the higher judiciary, including Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar M. Chaudhry, because they refused to endorse the emergency and were known to be opposed to his election as president while still army chief. Sharif and other politicians have said that the prime objective of the new government would be to reinstate the sacked judges.
Citing widespread irregularities and manipulations by the ruling party, organisations like the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan announced that there was no point in monitoring the polls. The Citizens Group for Electoral Process gave the pre-poll process an overall score of 26 on a scale of 100 in terms of fairness.
Despite, or perhaps because of these manipulations, Monday's polls were the most scrutinised in Pakistan's history, drawing an unprecedented number of international observers -- over 500. They included three prominent United States senators, Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with senior panel members John Kerry and Chuck Hagel.
Speaking with the BBC's Lyse Doucet on Feb. 19 in Islamabad, Kerry expressed his "admiration for Pakistani voters," who have spoken, he said, "powerfully and forcefully", going to the polls despite the pre-poll violence and loss of lives.
Doucet, no stranger to Pakistan, is among the over 700 foreign journalists who have landed here for the elections. Immigration authorities set up separate counters to facilitate the foreign media at Pakistan's international airports some days before the polls.
In addition, for the first time, the elections were held under the spotlight of over 40 privately-owned television channels. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and other organisations, like Human Rights Watch, had in the run up to the elections expressed anxiety about how much freedom the electronic media would be allowed.
Musharraf's six-week emergency rule from Nov. 3 was accompanied by a blackout of all independent news channels. They were allowed back on air only under a restrictive code of conduct imposed by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, PML-N's Sharif lauded journalists for covering the election campaigns risking their lives, and despite the restrictions.
A day before the elections, Attorney General Malik Qayyum had termed these restrictions as "illegal". He was addressing a press conference at which he denied that it was his voice admitting that the polls would be "massively rigged" on the audio tape recording released recently by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
Although the PPP and PML-N have emerged with a thumping majority according to the unofficial results, observers point out that this happened despite the pre-poll manipulations that had been documented earlier.
Talking to Geo News on Tuesday morning, as the results were still coming in, the routed former chief minister of Punjab and provincial president of the PML-Q Choudhry Parvaiz Elahi, who won one of the three National Assembly seats he was contesting, said he accepted his party's defeat.
"Not all the results are in yet," he added. "We are confident that we will still win some more." Sure enough, the last few results to come in did push the PML-Q to a better position.
The delays in reporting the results of some key constituencies aroused some suspicion. "They wanted to hold back the results of several seats," said Nawaz Sharif in his press conference, citing delayed results where his party eventually lost by narrow margins.
Many voters could not find their names on the electoral list, while others whose names were listed were prevented from voting. Amiruddin Channa, who came to Karachi from Dadu in interior Sindh 22 years ago, told IPS that he had been trying to find his name on the voters' list since morning. The 65-year-old retired senior government official's wife and daughter's names were finally located and they cast their votes.
"But the polling officer told me my vote was in Dadu although I saw it on the list here. I have also served as a presiding official, but we dealt with cases judiciously. The presiding officer here refused to take a stand. When I insisted on my right to vote, a goonda (hooligan) there became very threatening, so I left," Channa told IPS. "I'm a pensioner, I have high blood pressure, it doesn't make a difference to me whether the PPP comes to power or whoever. I'm never voting again."
Several other incidents of vote manipulation, violence and loss of lives, were reported around the country.
Political science professor Sahar Shafqat also points to "the massive systematic disenfranchisement of women," noting that women were barred from voting in several districts in NWFP. "But maybe more serious is that women are simply missing from the electoral rolls. Since the rolls are based on the national identity cards which many women simply don't have or are barred from obtaining, they are severely underrepresented in the lists."
IPS obtained several eye-witness accounts of ballot papers being illegally stamped and stuffed at polling stations around Karachi, the stronghold of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (United National Movement or MQM).
"I myself stamped two ballots for MQM," Javed (real name withheld) told IPS. "The boys came at 8 am to take people out to vote. They returned at 10 am and took me along for elections 'work'. I went into four polling stations with them in our area."

Gunfire, dancing welcome election losses by religious parties

PESHAWAR, Feb 19 (AFP): Celebratory gunfire and dancing in the streets greeted heavy election losses Tuesday by Pakistan's main alliance of religious parties in the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan. The MMA alliance lost many seats, winning just three seats in Monday's parliamentary elections, according to unofficial results. “These people did nothing for us during their five-year tenure and just strengthened the hands of Islamists and those supporting militancy,” said a property businessman. An auto-rickshaw mechanic called the mullahs “religious fanatics” and said a vote for them would be wasted. “These mullahs made our lives miserable,” he said.

PAKISTAN: Election results vindicate chief justice

A statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

The voting for the general elections for the National and Provincial assemblies has been completed and the unofficial results show that the political parties who were against the Musharraf regime are now in a comfortable position to form a government. The most surprising outcome of the elections is the victory of secular and democratic forces and the almost total defeat of the religious parties and their alliances, which were formed by the Musharraf government at the start of the war on terror. The parties which are in position to form a government are those who took a leading part in the movement for the restoration of Mr. Iftekhar Choudhry, the deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan, the rule of law, supremacy of judiciary, the restoration of the constitution and the elimination of all actions which were taken by General Musharraf during period of the state of emergency.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Awami National Party (ANP), have all openly committed in their manifestos and election campaigns that they will restore the deposed Chief Justice and the judiciary when they come into power. Ms. Benazir Bhutto, before her assassination, announced in front of the house of the Chief Justice, where he is presently in detention, that the party believes Mr. Choudhry is the legitimate Chief Justice and that her party will restore him to office.

The election results are taken as the victory of the struggle of Mr. Choudhry and the 55 judges who stood against the actions of the military and resisted every threat of arrest and intimidation. This is now the test time for President Musharraf to transfer the power to the elected representatives according to the constitutional requirements. In the previous elections of 2002 under the Musharraf government it took more than 40 days to hand over power to the representatives and this period was used successfully to transfer the loyalties of different representatives in the government's favour.

If the government once again takes that much time, or any time more than the constitution allows to hand over power to the majority or elected representatives, it would be dangerous not only for the country but also to the very existence for the military it self. Following the 1970 elections when the military government denied the people the right to form their government the country disintegrated and 90, 000 soldiers were made POWs by foreign forces. The government, therefore, has no option other than to transfer the power from the military to the elected representatives of the people.

On the other hand. the PPP and PML-N, who have the lead in the elections, should follow the charter of democracy which they reached to form an accord in 2006 at which time Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Shareef, both publicly announced that they will implement the true norms of democracy through the charter. The winning parties should also focus their efforts, as they are very much in the arena of state affairs, to releasing all the political workers and all those who have been disappeared and who are believed to be kept in military camps, to restore the rule of law, reinstate the Supreme Court , restore media freedoms and withdraw all restrictions placed on freedom of expression and association, begin to deal with the major issues of poverty, high cost of living and attacks on living standards and to devote its attention to deal with the matters relating to the stability of the country and start investigations into the abuse of power and gross violations of human rights. They must halt the military operations in Balochistan province and torture in custody should be made a crime. The parties should also work for a tolerant society and give space to the voice of dissent as a basic right.

The coming days are crucial to Pakistan. President Musharraf must immediately call for the formation of a government by the elected representatives of the people. And those elected representatives should do all they can not to barter away the power that the people have given to them as an expression of the people's protest against tyranny and repression.

Eyewitness Account - Rigging in Karachi

Zeenia Shaukat

Though it might come a bit late in the day, I thought I should share my experience with you people in any case. I, along with my aunty, went to vote at NA-252 St Lawrence School, Garden East. We went at around 4:35pm. We couldn’t find our names in the voters list. While they were looking for our names in the list, one young lady entered to vote. Her name was found on the list, but she was told that there were no ballot papers in the polling booth. “Why didn’t you come in earlier? We have been here since morning, and hardly anybody dropped in to vote.” I asked them why they were running out of the ballot papers now, when, as she says, the voters didn’t turn up during the day? Obviously, I got no answer.

As we were waiting for our news on the voters list, my aunt noticed one of the presiding officers stamping the ballot papers on her own. She was sitting in a corner and didn’t have anybody around. Before we could ask any questions, a man came to her and took all the papers away, to put them in the ballot box. We failed to find our name in the list and were told to go to another polling booth.

Once we entered the room, we were told to hurry up as time was running out. It was a polling booth meant for women, but there were three young men sitting at a desk in the corner. One guy was stamping the ballot papers at the kite symbol. I asked him how many votes did he have? Wasn’t he supposed to cast just one vote? No reply, as expected, but he was taken aback. A senior presiding officer then walked in, and asked that man to stop, saying “pehley he bara (12) books khatam kar li hain. Ab bas karo. Objection ho jayega.”

We were told to vote in any case, even though our names were not found on the list. The ballot paper for provincial assembly that I and my aunty got already had a stamp on the Kite symbol. We tore it. The guy who was earlier stamping the papers walked up to us and said, “Madam, jitna chahein try karlein. Inn sarey papers per MQM hi ki mohar lagi huwi hai.” We cast our vote for NA seat only.

No surprise then that the MQM won from the area with a "heavy majority". I think it was meant to win in any case as people in our area do favours for them for the work that the City Govt has been doing. But why did they have to make a mockery of the entire exercise? I guess I will not get any answers for this one either.

SAC exposes poll rigging

Students expose massive rigging 19 students from the student action committeevisited 14 polling stations in various constituencies. They uncovered massive riggings in most of these polling stations. Some of teh most common forms were altered voters list. Reportedly new lists were issued the night before, and hence the parties booths had voters lists different to those within the polling stations. Dozens of opposition party supporters were excluded from these new altered lists and hence were simply unable to vote.We also found instances of duplicate votes, where teh actual voter was turned away due to a vote already being cast. There were many incidences of coerced an bought votes by the establishment party. Most of these incidences were caught on camera or recorded on audio, including eye-witness accounts and victim's testimonies.

SAC will be releasing a detailed report shortly.

An Account of visits to two Karachi polling stations

(By Faris)

I was lucky enough to visit two very different polling stations today, clearly showing the inherent classism and divisions in Karachi (Pakistani) society today.

I first went to my polling station in Bath Island, NA-250 with my family and was really impressed by the arrangments. Policemen politely guided us to the right section, where I had to stand in a proper line for about 10 minutes before the first person checked my name on a clear voter's list. He read my N.I.C # out loud and this was confirmed by 3 officials in one corner of the room. My father's and my brothers name were clearly visible on the voter list as well. He put the black mark on my right thumb and asked me to proceed to the next table where two people responsible for handing out the National & Provincial balloting papers were sitting. After marking my candidates, I folded the balloting papers and asked the official if i had done them correctly, dropped them into the boxes and left happily. Maybe one reason for this order was because a European photographer was roaming around the polling station with a BBC Urdu crew.

Cowasjee was present in the room and was being interviewed by BBC. As always he commented, 'Hona kia hay, salaa phir wohi ghundaa logh aaye gah!' hahahahaha

The other polling station I visited was in Malir Halt, opposite to the airport, NA-256. This is a core MQM area and rigging is expected here. I dropped my grandmother and mother to the ladies polling area and this is what they've told me: 'There were only 3 - 4 women standing in a line to go through the voting process (including my grandmother and mother) while the room was filled with nearly a dozen women, who were just standing around laughing and chatting. The tables were in a mess and no one was really bothering to mark the thumb, checking the voting list or even confirming the N.I.C #. Amazingly, women were being ASKED to put stamp the 'kite' section while the cardboard screen was lying on the corner, facing the wrong way! My mother was furious and told the ladies there to give my grandmother some room so she could use the cardboard area. When they were dropping the balloting papers in the boxes, two random women were staring hard to see what she had stamped.
In the men's section, there was a huge crowd of MQM boys standing around with flags, looking really agitated and waiting for something to happen. (This is around 3 p.m.) I asked one of them, 'what's the scene? Is someone coming here?' He laughed and answered, 'Voting is about to begin!'
My grandmother's chowkidaar went to vote to the same polling station a little later and came back really sad, since he wasn't even able to fulfill his right! He told me that the MQM boys were busy blatantly stamping the remaining balloting papers. When he asked the officials where to go for voting one told him to go to the next building of the school and when he went there, he was told to go back to the first one. After going around for 20 minutes he gave up and came back home. We all know how competitive NA-256 is going to be....

Meanwhile...
PML-Q people in Faisalabad have offered a 'bicycle' for anyone who brings 10 votes, a 'motorbike' for 50 votes and a 'mehran' for 100 votes! A friend's friend (working for an independent candidate) was so happy from the news, that he was able to round up 40 votes the last i heard. His logic was that 50 votes will not make the king's party win since Nawaz league is steamrolling them in Faisalabad, so why not take advantage of the situation? I completely agree! You know, the PML-Q really knows how to cater to the needy :-)

Updates

Some incoming updates

• 10 people killed so far today. Many injured.
• Blatant rigging reported by many voters
  
• News of “staged” voting in front of foreign election observers
• News of abductions (atleast 4 PML-N workers’ abduction confirmed)
• TV Channel’s barred from showing results (please see attached PEMRA notice attached)
• Many people complaining that they are not on the voter list including 2 close friends who have searched every polling station in their constituency.
• Feuds in many polling stations.
• Polling suspended in some regions (one was requested by Fatima Bhutto)
• SAC Lahore member Asif Mulick reports that supporters of Abdul Aleem offered him a Rs 2000 in cash to vote at Queen Mary polling station.
• SAC member Ahmed Iqbal reports from Narowal that PML-Q leagues armed gang members ransack ten poling stations, staff being harassed and PML-N agents thrown out

From Geo News:

• 67 ballot papers snatched in NA-52 Rawalpindi
• Blast at polling station in Bajaur Agency
• 
  

Updates

Some incoming updates on events around

• 10 people killed so far today. Many injured.
• Blatant rigging reported by many voters
  
• News of “staged” voting in front of foreign election observers
• News of abductions (atleast 4 PML-N workers’ abduction confirmed)
• TV Channel’s barred from showing results (please see attached PEMRA notice attached)
• Many people complaining that they are not on the voter list including 2 close friends who have searched every polling station in their constituency.
• Feuds in many polling stations.
• Polling suspended in some regions (one was requested by Fatima Bhutto)
• SAC Lahore member Asif Mulick reports that supporters of Abdul Aleem offered him a Rs 2000 in cash to vote at Queen Mary polling station.
• SAC member Ahmed Iqbal reports from Narowal that PML-Q leagues armed gang members ransack ten poling stations, staff being harassed and PML-N agents thrown out

Mock Election results

Members of the Student Action Committee had planned to hold mock elections in front of the Lahore High Court, reaching there early morning the police prevented them to setup camp but they instead continued the mock elections at another location. The turnout was massive with over 812 voters.

Votes Against Musharraf = 782
Votes For Musharraf = 24

TOTAL Vostes Casted = 812

Courtesy SAC Referendum Cell, Lahore

Witness account of poll rigging

A voter an account of her first experience voting. The sense of disillusion one feels after voting explains why most people dont bother voting.

Dhandli at polling station:

The dhandli I witnessed in the five minutes it took me to cast my first Pakistani vote was beyond even what a cynical person like myself could have imagined. I laughed in the face of its blatant-ness and had many who joined in, albeit, for entirely different reasons.

As we walked in, my NIC number was recorded on the left stub of my vote, and I was handed a sheet that had already been torn out from the book, so the vote I cast wasn't the one that corresponded with my NIC number. I don't know if that matters, but when I asked about the
discrepancy, I was told it did not.

Then came the coercion (in a slightly intimidating way, if that makes any sense) to stamp the 'Patang'. The woman voting before us, asked where she could vote? She was told, 'right here on the table', but she asked for privacy and was shown the flimsy cardboard screen.

While waiting my turn to stamp my vote, I saw one of the two women, who had made themselves comfortable enough in the room, get up and proceeded to stamp four white ballot papers in quick succession, before adding them in to the transparent ballot box for the provincial
assembly. Her associate then did the same. I gaped in complete disbelief, and asked who the votes were from, and the presiding officer who was seated right in front of the ballot box, laughed and said, 'yeh votes Allah ki tarf say hain' [These votes are from Allah.]. Outraged by the unabashed dhandli, I asked why I had bothered to come and vote.

The ballot paper itself was disappointing because it didn't leave the vote confidential, the stamp showed right through the paper!! So the extremely biased polling agents and presiding officers knew our vote, and yes only one party seemed to be represented. I was leaving in disgust after I voted when they asked me to have my thumb marked, and one of the presiding officer cheekily remarked, 'Iin ko mat lagao, yeh tow wapas aa kar vote karain gee', ['Don't mark her thumb, she'll be back to vote again.']

I left saying 'nahin, aap daal deyna mairee taraf say'. ['No, you are welcome to vote on my behalf']

So even though, I am no political analyst or soothsayer, I can tell you that the 'Patang' will win in my constituency.

SAC Lahore Activities on Election day

Volunteers are needed for two parallel activities - Electoral Monitoring and Mock polling with street theater - being organized by SAC Lahore today. Those interested please get in touch at 0332-4838139

Electoral monitoring begins at 9 am
Mock Polling and Street Theatre begins at 8 am.

Electoral Monitoring (9 am to 11 pm)

Electoral monitoring at the end of which they will produce an independent report on electoral irregularities. A sub-committee of nine members was made for this purpose. Another team of SAC members will organize a camp outside the press club. Both activities are intended to compliment each other.

The target is for the final product of a report of no more than 20 pages that will document electoral irregularities as well as the impressions of various students about the electoral process of 2008. We hope that this will not only be an exercise in raising the awareness of other people, but will prove to be an educational experience about electoral processes (or lack of) in Pakistan.

The electoral monitoring team will focus on one constituency (with the exception of a few who will monitor and report back from their own cities, villages etc. ). We have decided to focus on the constituency of Monis Elahi.

All volunteers are to submit a one or two-page report that will be edited and put together as a twenty-page report of the SAC Lahore on the elections of 2008.

We solicit everyone to send us any information regarding irregularities in the upcoming elections.

Very briefly we will be looking for the following things.

1. Polling stations must be secure – only those who are voting should be allowed inside polling stations.
2. Presence of armed vigilantes – the presence of armed vigilantes of political parties especially outside of polling stations is a clear indication of an gross electoral irregularity. If you find someone openly brandishing arms take a photograph from relative safety.
3. Campaign spending – the maximum campaign spending is Rs. 15 lakh and Rs. 10 lakh for National and Provincial Assembly respectively.
4. Unfair use of public funds – the use of government funds to build support for an electoral candidate through development projects is considered an electoral irregularity by the EU.
5. Unfair use of private funds – public works such as gas connections, road repairs, or the laying of pipelines through private funds are also considered a violation of electoral procedures. Further, paying people for their vote (from public or private funds) is also considered an electoral violation.

Please visit the websites of Free And Fair Election Network (FAFEN), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Election Commission of Pakistan to find out more about electoral procedures and our voting rights.

The only true education is self-education through self-experience. The activity of electoral monitoring is an opportunity for us to learn more about the claims and reality of electoral procedures in Pakistan.

Mock Polling and Street theater in front of Lahore High Court

SAC Lahore plans to organize mock polling and street theater in front of Lahore High Court on Election day. The objective of establishing this polling station is to hold a referendum on the legitimacy of Pervez Musharraf's presidency in a transparent manner. By creating a parallel election system, in effect an act of civil disobedience, we express our doubts about the legitimacy and the transparency of these elections. The objective of street theatre is to provoke us into a collective thinking about the rule of law in Pakistan and to encourage each other in resisting oppression and slavery.

We would appreciate volunteers to help us manage the station, including the tents, furniture, officers and agents, ballot boxes, ballot paper, and relevant literature. Or you may contribute to the street theatre group, which will stage-manage the short productions to be delivered regularly on Election Day.

We need help with:

1) Volunteers to man the booth

2) Setting up the booth in the morning

3) Distributing the flyers

4) Implementing any additional ideas that you may have

We would ideally like to keep the polling booth and theatre going till 5 pm, but this is heavily dependent upon volunteers

Uni notices - attached. Please put these up today on noticeboards in your universities.

Media concern: Letter of Hamid Mir

Dear Journalist Colleagues,

Thanks for coming to this press conference on the invitation of Pakistan Federal Union Journalists. As you, Musharraf regime have banned many TV anchors including me without any written charge against us. The main objective of banning us was to pressurize Pakistani media to accept a new code of conduct for print and electronic journalism. This new code was drafted just to manipulate elections.

Musharraf regime started pressurizing us to accept new media laws in 2006. I was served with a notice from the government in October 2006 when I hosted a talk show on the role of intelligence agencies in politics. I responded that notice through my lawyer and took a stand that I never violated any law. Government never issued any notice to me after my response. In January 2007 some top government officials offered me to join state controlled PTV.

They said that private TV channels have no future and a big action will soon be taken against all of them. I refused. My office was attacked in March 2007 in Islamabad and I was also beaten by the police.

Pervez Musharraf apologized to me after that incident but later on some more incidents took place. His words were different from the actions of his government. Journalists were kidnapped, arrested and tortured many times in different cities. Many of us received threats. I wrote in Daily Jang on May 2nd 2007 that government have decided to ban live TV programes.

The government was again angry in August 2007 when I wrote about its plans against media and judiciary in “The News”. I sent my family outside Pakistan after some threats in June 2007.In September and October 2007, President House directly tried to silence me. They offered many bribes. Emergency was imposed on November 3rd 2007.All the TV channels were banned. We were not available on cable but I was doing my talk show for the satellite viewers.

When I started participating in the protest rallies organized by PFUJ and RIUJ, I was informed by a minister of the previous regime that I could be killed in a small road accident.Musharraf regime manipulated to shut down our transmission centre from Dubai on November 16th.Geo TV remained banned for more than two months. Its transmission was resumed in the third week of January 2008 when Musharraf got assurance that I and Shahid Masood will not appear on Geo TV. He dictated his wish when the economic survival of the Geo TV was in danger. It was a clear blackmailing.

Today the Pakistani media is working under pressure.Musharraf regime have plans to rigg the elections. I demand that Musharraf should come out with some justification of banning us with evidence otherwise we have no doubts that “we are banned just to protect his rigging plans”. Rigging few anchors will not help Musharraf. I am sure that Pakistani media will not allow Musharraf to rig the elections openly.Media will fight against the terror and tyranny on February 18th.

Hamid Mir

The More Things Change..

By Kamal K. Jabbar

In its sixty years of existence, Pakistan, envisioned by its founder as a constitutional republic, has had six periods of martial law, the last between 3rd November and 15th December of last year. On the eve of the general elections on 18th February, as one juxtaposes the past with the present, one gets the inevitable feeling of what the French refer to as "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"; the more things change, the more they stay the same.

While circumstances and people over the years have changed, certain election trends have remained remarkably consistent. Almost every election every held in the country has been replete with allegations of fraud and duplicity. The charges include, voter and candidate harassment, irregularities in the delimitation of constituencies, the fudging of voter lists, the misuse of state apparatus to assist state-favoured candidates, the active involvement of murkyintelligence agencies, ballot stuffing and biased appointments and conduct of election commissioners and election staff. A rejection of poll results by unsuccessful parties on the above pretexts has been afeature of almost all elections held so far.

In the 1965 presidential elections held under the Constitution of1962, Fatima Jinnah, Ayub Khan's main rival and the chosen candidateof the Combined Opposition Parties (COP) complained bitterly about howstate functionaries were actively impeding her campaign. She publicly stated that "so many obstructions have been placed that my faith inthe whole process has been shaken."

COP's demands for judicial inquiries into election complaints,stricter voter identity checks at polling stations and for judicialofficers (rather than executive officers) to serve as returningofficers were rejected by the government and the Election Commission.Miss Jinnah's demand that polls be held under an impartial, caretakergovernment was similarly brushed aside.

State-run radio, Radio Pakistan served as a propaganda mouthpiece forAyub who had publicly revealed his strongly held belief that democracywas not to the "genius of the Pakistani people", An indication of theGovernment's complicity in fixing Ayub's election comes from the factthat Khan A. Sabur, the serving Central Communications Minister,announced the date of the election to the press even before theofficial announcement by the Election Commission.

In the elections of March 1977 the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA)attributed the PPP's win of almost four-fifths of the availableNational Assembly seats to mass scale rigging, coercion, fraud and theuse of government jeeps and buses in electioneering. According to theZia regime's exhaustive though self-serving 'White Paper' on theelections, Bhutto had used government funds and intelligence and lawenforcement officials to ensure a PPP victory. Even in Bhutto's "safeseat" of Larkana, his opponent, Jan Mohammad Abbasi was arrested andkept at an undisclosed location till after the last date for filing ofnomination papers had passed. So lacking in credibility was thiselection, that even its Chief Election Commissioner, Justice SajjadAhmad Jan termed the process a hoax saying that "the failure of theelectoral process was, by and large, due to the candidates of theruling party who exploited their position and succeeded in hoaxing theofficials in charge of the elections, thus destroying the sanctity ofthe ballot box."

The Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), many of whoseleaders were in prison at the time, boycotted the February 1985elections held by Zia. Officially, these were party-less polls, thoughstate patronage was decidedly provided to the Jamaat-e-Islami. Thevoters responded by handing a resounding defeat to Zia and his allies.All but one of his Federal Ministers lost in their constituencies andthe Jamaat's showing was dismal at best.

In the October 1990 elections, the Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDA)which included the PPP, alleged that massive rigging had taken placeto install an Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) government. PresidentGhulam Ishaq Khan, who had dismissed the previous PPP government madeno secret of his preferred party. On the eve of the election he made atelevised speech asking the people to vote against the PDA destroyingevery semblance of the neutrality and impartiality of the office ofthe President. The PDA's White Paper on the elections alleged thatIshaq Khan had set up an election cell at the Aiwan-e-Sadar to closelymonitor and manage the election for it to yield his desired result.

The 1997 general elections which resulted in a two-thirds majority forthe PML (N) were dismissed by Benazir Bhutho as being "engineered".Qazi Hussain Ahmed also rubbished the elections and said that theJamaat would not recognize the government that would emerge.
The 2002 general elections were no exception to the trend and weretermed by national and international organizations, including HumanRights Watch, as being "deeply flawed".

The irony of Pakistan's electoral history is that arguably the freest,fairest and most transparent elections ever held were those under thestewardship of the dissolute General Yahya Khan in 1970.

Referendums have also been mis-used by Generals to validate or prolongtheir illegal tenures.
Pursuant to Ayub's Presidential Order, on the 14th of February 1960,Basic Democrats were required to answer the penetrating question:"Have you confidence in President Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan,Hilal-i-Jurat?" The rules of this farce, set by the regime, stipulatedthat if a majority of the "votes" answered yes then Ayub would bedeemed to have been elected the President of Pakistan, given the soleauthority to produce a new constitution and also to serve as the firstterm as President under it. The regime was proud to announce that95.6% of the votes had gone in Ayub's favour.

Zia was also proud to announce that 97.7% of the people had voted forhim in his 1984 referendum while Musharraf was equally pleased withhis slighter higher showing of 98% approval.

As we move towards the elections on 18th February 2008, it may be safeto say that things have changed. For example, never before has seventypercent of Pakistan's judiciary been deposed and incarceratedillegally.

Other things, however, remain consistent with the past. We have a"president" who has addressed political rallies favouring oneparticular party. Resources of the state have been used to assist thisparty. Violence and bloodshed has visited us. District judges havebeen frantically transferred. The issue of millions of missing votersremains unresolved as do issues of delimitation.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!

Arif Hasan Talk in Karachi on Sunday

If you're a vintage Karachiite and you're deeply attached to the city though it troubles you, or you are posted here and it maddens you – whether infrastructurally, socially, economically or politically all of which are tied together – our forthcoming lecture will be of interest to you. Karachi is also a central issue in the elections for interest groups -- and the masses who may be more preoccupied by personal concerns than candidates.
We cordially invite you to a definitive talk on

"URBANIZATION, POLITICS, PUBLIC AND NATIONAL INTERESTS"
by Mr. Arif Hasan,leading environmentalist, architect and people-oriented planner,
on Sunday, 4th February, 2008, at 4 p.m. sharp
at 2 Bath Island Road, Parin Lodge, Karachi (near Bridge Store)

Presented by
PEOPLE'S RESISTANCE in association with The Green Economics Initiative, SHIRKAT GAH
Your RSVP would be helpful ! - Please call Sahar Shafqat on 0300-2938550

Former AG Questions 'SC haste'

(Courtesy DAWN)

LAHORE, Feb 15: Secretary General of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Former law minister and attorney-general Syed Iqbal Haider has expressed surprise over the way the Supreme Court issued its judgment in favour of the Nov 3 emergency rule on Thursday and disposed of a review petition against it the next day although the matter was not of urgent nature.
In a statement on Friday, he said the review petitions had been filed by people with dubious credentials who belonged to Gen Musharraf's camp.
He said Friday was the last working day before the elections and the judges hurriedly completed all proceedings, possibly because they thought that after the polls they would not be there to give their judgment.
He said even the petitioners' counsel had requested for an adjournment for preparation because they were informed by the SC only the night before that their case was fixed before a 16-meber bench for Friday. He said by disposing of the review petition, the court had blocked the remedy by the "independent judiciary" when it would be restored.
He said the incumbent judges were forgetting one basic principle of law that they could not be judge in their own case.
"The persons who validated the emergency were not competent to do so because they were beneficiaries of the order which even its author Gen Musharraf had admitted was unconstitutional.
"The so-called validation of the proclamation of emergency and dismissal of the review petition is an exercise in futility as it is without jurisdiction and lawful authority and is of no lawful effect or consequence."
The independent judiciary would be competent to set it aside, he said.
He argued no important political party or bar representative had challenged the proclamation of emergency for the simple reason that no lawful judicial forum was available to decide the matter. Had they filed any petition, they would have accorded recognition to the existing courts.

CCP: This is a Defining Moment

Musharraf, by becoming the most favoured ally of the West in their war against terror, has reaped a harvest of billions of dollars, which he has misused to wage a war against his own countrymen in Frontier and Balochistan. He has weakened the federation with his divisive policies. To perpetuate his own misrule, he has disfigured the constitution, demolished the judiciary, muzzled the media, imprisoned the judges and lawyers and appointed favourites in their place. The public has no access to justice. Crises of Ata, sugar, electricity, water, gas, un-employment and insecurity have made life miserable for the common man.

Musharraf's government has misused public funds, spread terror in the county, appointed handpicked Nazims and election officers, set up ghost polling stations, fabricated and collected National ID cards in order to rig the elections. We deserve a united and prosperous Pakistan where citizens are secure, jobs and necessities of life are freely available and everyone has access to justice. Your vote will decide whether Musharraf's cronies will return to continue their despotism, or a leadership is elected which promises independence of the judiciary and government of the people, by the people, for the people. Be vigilant against rigging. Find your polling station and your name in the voter's list a day before the election. Arrive early, cast your vote yourself according to your conscience for honest candidates who promise to restore the judiciary and to work for a peaceful, democratic Pakistan.

"UTH BULLHIA, YAAR MANAA LAI! NAEEN TAY BAAZI LAI GAEY KUTTAY".

(Concerned Citizens of Pakistan (CCP), a non-partisan, non-political group).

Parliament Watch-- Press Release 16-02-2008

It is with great honor and pleasure that the Future Leaders of Pakistan (FLP), an organization representing the youth of Pakistan, has completed the "Parliament Watch" project in anticipation of theupcoming elections. Our organization is the largest youth-based organization in Pakistan since being established in 1997.
For Parliament Watch, please visit: www.pw.org.pk
As you can see, the website is a revolutionary format for free speech and it has become the medium of choice for the Pakistani internet community of over 12 million users. We have done this project with the greatest desire to strengthen the democratic political institutions of our country. We hope that you will lend us a helping hand in spreading awareness regarding this project by circulating this email widely.
Our youth are tomorrow's leaders, and we hope that you will recognize our desire to bring about positive change in Pakistan.
Sincerely,

Tamreez Inam

President, FLP

Jawab by 3.0 - Music for our times

3.0 (three point oh) is an informal political/social musical experiment, made up of several LUMS alumni. Much before the recent political/social storm, they started making songs about revolution, about young people having a duty towards their society. Society however had little time for active politics before they found a leader they could trust or look up to in CJ Iftikhar. When our dictator president finally did us this favor, as I put it, these guys put out a video for their song Jawab, which talks about how so many people in our society will do nothing to put things right, and furthermore will do everything to discourage and pull down those around them that do care and are trying to make a difference. It talks about how the efforts of those who see and feel can never go waste.

The video is based on the concept of freedom and independence of journalism, and how that today is society's eyes, ears and voice today. Shackled, tormented, maligned, abused; it leads to a society on the edge of insanity and intolerance. The funny thing is, right after November 3 when they released it, 3point0 were told our country's music channels liked the song, but couldn't play it so as not to offend the powers that be. The same media who's independence they wanted to.

All their other songs I've heard are similarly political and optimistic, and I could put these up or something, with the hope that they help inspire young people who want to be bystanders no more, and who are already beginning to burn with a passion for fairness and justice.

The band has no commercial agenda.

Website: www.project3p0.com

3.0 are:

Sabqat Mansoor (MBA 06)

Farhad Nadeem (MBA 06)

Zain zakariha (MBA 06)

Danish Lamuel (MBA 06)

Omeir Zahid (MBA 06)

Message from Aitzaz Ahsan to Pakistanis - Part Two

Message from Aitzaz Ahsan to Pakistanis - Part One

The following video has been obtained by us through special arrangements and SAC is releasing it for the general audience right now. The video includes a message to the people of Pakistan followed by a very inspirational poem by none other than Honorable Aitzaz Ahsan. It is addressed particularly to the youth and future leaders of Pakistan who have been actively opposing oppression of the current regime and continuing the struggle for the restoration of the judiciary even when the main leaders are still kept under illegal custody or house-arrest.
This video is HIGHLY inspirational and I would recommend all of you to watch it.

PTV electoral coverage - heavy bias in favour of Musharraf & allies

With just four days to go to the 18 February parliamentary elections, Reporters Without Borders confirms that the state television station PTV's coverage continues to be heavily biased in favour of President Pervez Musharraf and his allies. The press freedom organisation has been monitoring the election campaign coverage of Pakistan's only terrestrial TV broadcaster since 28 January.
From 3 to 12 February, 81 per cent of the political items (reports, interviews, analyses etc) on PTV's four main news programmes were about the president, federal government or ruling party, the PML (Q). As regards political parties alone, PML (Q) got 24.3 per cent of air-time, while the opposition PML (N) got 6.7 per cent and the PPP, the other leading opposition party, got 10.1 per cent. During this 10-day period, the PML (Q) was mentioned for a total of 109 minutes and 38 seconds, while the entire opposition total was just 85 minute and few seconds.
"Despite the denials from the government and PTV in response to the first set of results we published, the trend has not changed significantly," Reporters Without Borders said. "Pakistan's only national TV station has, it is true, talked a bit more about the PPP and other opposition parties, but this in no way means its coverage is fair."
The organisation added: "We urge international observers to include PTV's lack of fairness in their conclusions on Pakistan's electoral process."
The breakdown of air-time allocation in the monitored news programmes was 11.8 per cent for the president, 44.9 per cent for the federal and provincial governments, 24.3 per cent for the ruling PML (Q), 6.7 per cent for Nawaz Sharif's PML (N), 10.1 per cent for the late Benazir Bhutto's PPP, 0.1 per cent for the nationalist parties (such as the ANP) and 2 per cent for the MMA fundamentalist alliance. The APDM alliance, which is calling for an election boycott, got no air-time.
The coverage given to the ANP, a Pashtun party, was mainly due to a suicide bombing on one of its meetings on 10 February.
A significant improvement in the PPP's share of air-time from 7 February onwards was due to the Chehlum ceremonies held 40 days after Benazir Bhutto's assassination. PTV's reports included criticism of the current PPP leadership and comments by politician Mumtaz Bhutto, who was able to condemn the "politicisation of Benazir Bhutto's assassination" for two minutes. The PPP got as much coverage as the PML (Q) from 7 to 9 February, but the difference resumed the next day, when the ruling party got 13 minutes 20 seconds and the PPP got 5 minutes 20 seconds.
It should be noted that the 81 per cent of air-time allocated to the president and his allies was a slight improvement on the first period monitored by Reporters Without Borders, when they were allocated 84.9 per cent.
Reporters Without Borders noted that PTV readily broadcasts criticism of the opposition by the regime's supporters. But the criticism of Musharraf and his allies that is expressed at opposition meetings is rarely broadcast. On 10 February, for example, it broadcast comments by politician Chaudhry Perwaiz Elahi forecasting that Pakistan would break up if the PPP got to power.
The authorities have described the Reporters Without Borders monitoring as mendacious. They have claimed, for example, that the government has nothing to do with the president's political camp. But all observers agree that most government ministers are, directly or indirectly, political allies of Musharraf or the PML (Q). The acting prime minister is a former senate president who was elected as a PML (Q) representative, while the ministers of information and inter-provincial coordination are leading PML (Q) members. A minister in the Balochistan provincial government is even a candidate, in violation of the electoral law.
In the programme "Khabar Nama" on 6 February, PTV described the first Reporters Without Borders release on its monitoring as false and fabricated. But it misrepresented the results. Reporters Without Borders never said that 85 per cent of the air-time had been allocated to the PML (Q). It said that it had been allocated to the PML (Q), the president and the government.
On 11 February, PTV launched a 55-minutes new programme called "Election hour" that provides a forum for "all the parties." Opposition parties' leaders have already been invited, but it is doubtful that it will restore balance in the distribution of air-time before the elections.
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) recently issued rules to the privately-owned TV stations for their election-day coverage. No forecast or estimate of results is to be broadcast until the person in charge of the polling state has announced the official results.

Reporters Without Borders has monitored the state-owned TV broadcaster PTV's coverage of the 18 February parliamentary election campaign since 28 January.

In Tribal Pakistan, Religious Parties Are Foundering

(Courtesy The New York Times)

By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: February 14, 2008

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Senator Asfandyar Wali, the leader of an opposition party, the Awami National Party, is campaigning for the elections next week from the safety of his bed, under a quilt and propped up on bolsters for his bad back at his country home outside Peshawar. Ill health aside, Mr. Wali is staying home because suicide bombers are seeking to kill him, his party has been warned by high-level government officials. There have been two bomb attacks on his party's election gatherings in the last week. Two candidates have been killed, one in a suicide bombing and one in a shooting in Karachi.
Yet despite the attacks and the limited campaigning, his party is expected to do well in the parliamentary elections on Monday. The religious parties that for the last five years have governed the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan Province, which border Afghanistan and the tribal areas, are foundering. Since being swept to power in 2002 on a wave of anti-Americanism and sympathy for the Taliban after the American invasion of Afghanistan, the mullahs here have found that the public mood has shifted against them. People complain that they have failed to deliver on their promises, that they have proved just as corrupt as other politicians and that they have presided over a worsening of security, demonstrated most vividly in a rising number of suicide attacks carried out by militants based in the nearby tribal areas.

"They did not serve the people," said Faiz Muhammad, 47, a farmer whose son was killed in the bomb blast on an Awami political gathering on Saturday. The shift in mood here may be a bellwether of larger trends nationwide. The religious parties held 59 seats in the 342-member Parliament, making them a kingmaker at critical times, like helping President Pervez Musharraf to extend his military rule. But this time their number may fall to single digits, according to some estimates.Pollsters and political analysts in Pakistan have maintained that the religious parties command only a small percentage of popular support and that the 2002 elections were an aberration, a reaction to the American intervention in Afghanistan and the result of rigging by Pakistan's intelligence agencies, which have always had links with the religious parties.Two opinion polls released this week show that the standing of the religious parties has fallen to a new low, with voters showing a strong shift of support toward the moderate parties. A survey of more than 3,000 people at the end of January by the International Republican Institute showed that the religious parties could command only 1 percent of the vote nationally, down from 4 percent in November. In North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan Province, their share was 4 percent.

Meanwhile, support for the Pakistan Peoples Party, the party of the assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has soared to 50 percent nationally, the poll found. The face-to-face survey was conducted throughout Pakistan and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus two percentage points. Another survey conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow, a Washington-based bipartisan group that seeks to reduce support for international terrorism, showed backing at 62 percent for the Pakistan Peoples Party and the faction of the Pakistan Muslim League led by the opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif.

If the Taliban were on the ballot sheet, they would garner just 3 percent of the vote, and Al Qaeda only 1 percent, according to the poll. The face-to-face nationwide survey of more than 1,000 interviews was conducted in January with D3 Systems and the Pakistan Institute for Public Opinion and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. Here in North-West Frontier Province, where religious parties won a majority and ran the government, they are blamed for being soft on the militants and for allowing "Talibanization," the radical Islamist agenda creeping into society.

"People are fed up because they are not opposing the attacks by the Taliban openly," said Muhammad Jawed, 40, a businessman who attended the funeral for Mr. Muhammad's son. That frustration has redounded to the favor of moderate opposition parties like the Awami National Party, a Pashtun nationalist party founded by Mr. Wali's grandfather. It was almost wiped out in the last elections, in 2002, when it welcomed the American intervention in Afghanistan. In its place a coalition of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, was elected.

The provincial assembly in Peshawar was filled with madrasa-educated mullahs, more than a dozen heavily veiled women on reserve seats and even mujahedeen who had fought in Kashmir and Afghanistan. They advocated the introduction of Islamic law, or Shariah, and the banning of music, cinema and alcohol. The Awami National Party failed to win any seats in the national assembly and only 10 seats in the provincial assembly. It is now hoping to triple that on Monday and to secure as many as 12 national assembly seats. The religious coalition itself is in disarray, facing attacks from both left and right.

One of the largest parties in the coalition, Jamaat-e-Islami, is boycotting the elections, protesting what it says is an uneven playing field provided by Mr. Musharraf. The other main party in the coalition, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, is split, tainted after its leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, made compromises to support Mr. Musharraf. In particular, Maulana Rehman broke with the militants in their standoff last summer with government forces at the Red Mosque in Islamabad. When other opposition parties resigned from Parliament last October, seeking to undercut Mr. Musharraf's election to another term, Maulana Rehman stood by the president. Today, Maulana Rehman is homebound, under threat from the militants who resent the support he has lent to Mr. Musharraf. His house has come under attack, and he is under threat from suicide attacks, government officials have said.

For Mr. Wali, the expected trouncing of the religious parties on Monday is recompense. "I feel," he said, "that we Pashtuns have had enough of war, enough of bloodshed, and the common man now accepts that."

Original article here.

HRCP Condemns State Sponsored Violence

Press Release

February 12, 2008 Karachi: In a joint statement issued to the press Mr. Iqbal Haider, Secretary General, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Ms. Zohra Yusuf, Vice Chairperson, HRCP strongly condemned spread of mob violence and lawlessness across the country, just before the general elections in Pakistan. This violence has spiraled completely out of control of the government, and is threatening to plunge the country into a state of total anarchy.

Recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan show the failure of anti-terrorism policies. It is obvious that mere policing and random arrests can do nothing to overcome the menace. A broader approach is required, coupled with a willingness to end the air of secrecy that currently surrounds operations being carried out against alleged terrorists, the statement said. Repeated attack on the election campaigns and the candidates, including the recent attack on the workers of ANP resulting in deaths of several party workers indicate there are attempts to intimidate voters. HRCP strongly condemns the attack and condoles with the grieved families and leaders and workers of ANP. A government which cannot provide safety to the voters and their candidates is incapable of holding free and fair elections.

The caretakers and President Pervez Musharraf have no moral or legal justification to remain in office. HRCP also condemns the violent attack on the peaceful gathering of lawyers, human rights activists and members of the civil society in Islamabad on February 09, 2007 and the recent fake cases of sedition and war against state registered against more than a dozen lawyers in Peshawar, who were protesting against the arrest of the Chief Justice, Mr. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Mr Aitzaz Ahsan, Mr. Justice Tariq Mehmood and Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd. HRCP believes that targeting innocent people, suspending access to justice and repressing legitimate dissent would only create resentment, encourage extremism and exacerbate insecurity.

Iqbal Haider
Secretary General,
HRCP
Zohra Yusuf
Vice-Chairperson,
HRCP

Pakistan's Tehalka!

Human Rights Watch Releases a shocking Phone Conversation

Audio: http://hrw.org/audio/2008/urdu/pakistan0208.htm

Pakistan: Attorney General Aware of ‘Massive’ Election-Rigging Plans
Audio Recording Calls Into Question Government’s Commitment to Fair Elections
(New York, February 15, 2008) – In an audio recording obtained by Human Rights Watch, Pakistan’s Attorney General Malik Qayyum stated that upcoming parliamentary elections will be “massively rigged,” Human Rights Watch said today.

In the recording, Qayyum appears to be advising an unidentified person on what political party the person should approach to become a candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election, now scheduled for February 18, 2008. Human Rights Watch said that the recording was made during a phone interview with a member of the media on November 21, 2007. Qayyum, while still on the phone interview, took a call on another telephone and his side of that conversation was recorded. The recording was made the day after Pakistan’s Election Commission announced the schedule for polls.

The election was originally planned for January 8 but was postponed after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, returned to Pakistan on November 25. An English translation of the recording, which is in Urdu and Punjabi, follows: “Leave Nawaz Sharif (PAUSE).... I think Nawaz Sharif will not take part in the election (PAUSE).... If he does take part, he will be in trouble. If Benazir takes part she too will be in trouble (PAUSE).... They will massively rig to get their own people to win. If you can get a ticket from these guys, take it (PAUSE).... If Nawaz Sharif does not return himself, then Nawaz Sharif has some advantage. If he comes himself, even if after the elections rather than before (PAUSE)…. Yes….”

Repeated attempts by Human Rights Watch to contact Qayyum by phone were unsuccessful.

Fears of rigging have been a major issue in the current election campaign. Human Rights Watch said that since the official election period commenced in November 2007, there have been numerous allegations of irregularities, including arrests and harassment of opposition candidates and party members. There are also allegations that state resources, administration and state machinery are being used to the advantage of candidates backed by President Pervez Musharraf. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that the Election Commission, which is monitoring the polls, was not acting impartially.

Background: Malik Qayyum is a former judge who resigned from the bench in 2001 amid charges of misconduct. On April 15, 1999, a two-judge panel of the Lahore High Court headed by Qayyum convicted Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari in a corruption case. They were sentenced to five years in prison, fined US$8.6 million dollars each, disqualified as members of parliament for five years, and forced to forfeit their property. The impending verdict led Bhutto to go into exile in March 1999.

In February 2001, the Sunday Times, a British newspaper, published a report based on transcripts of 32 audio tapes, which revealed that Qayyum convicted Bhutto and Zardari for political reasons. The transcripts of the recordings reproduced by the newspaper showed that Qayyum asked then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s anti-corruption chief, Saifur Rehman, for advice on the sentence: “Now you tell me how much punishment do you want me to give her?”

In April 2001, on the basis of this evidence, a seven-member bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld an appeal by the couple, overturning the conviction. In its ruling, the Supreme Court contended that Qayyum had been politically motivated in handing down the sentence. Faced with a trial for professional misconduct before Pakistan’s Supreme Judicial Council, the constitutional body authorized to impeach senior judges, Qayyum opted to resign his post in June 2001.

A close associate of Musharraf, Qayyum was appointed as the lead counsel on behalf of Pakistan’s federal government in the presidential reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, instituted after Chaudhry was first illegally deposed by Musharraf on March 9, 2007. A full bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court reinstated Chief Justice Chaudhry on July 20, 2007. Qayyum was appointed attorney general of Pakistan by Musharraf in August 2007.