March 19, 2002	Tuesday	Muharram 4, 1423

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ABBOTTABAD, March 18: Jamaat-i-Islami Secretary-General Syed Munawar Hassan has said the government has started “pre-election rigging.”

All the political parties should end their differences for the revival of democracy in the country, he said, while speaking at a press conference here at the Abbottabad Press Club on Sunday.

The JI leader, accompanied by NWFP JI Chief Prof Ibrahim, district chief Dr Ishaque Sheikh and the party’s tehsil chief, Mehboob Elahi, said the government was planning to hold a referendum, which was the first step towards rigging of the coming general election.

All the political forces in the country had opposed the appointment of the chief election commissioner who, he said, should have been appointed in consultation with the parties. Mr Hassan said the CEC must have taken notice of the complaint.

Adds our Mansehra correspondent: Mr Hassan said that despite its opposition to the policies of the government of Gen Pervez Musharraf, his party would not adopt the course of confrontation and would keep up its struggle for the restoration of “real” democracy in the country.