July 31, 2002	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 20,1423

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MUZAFFARABAD, July 30: A number of leaders and legislators of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party (AJKPP) on Tuesday called upon the military government to avoid measures, which, they said, amounted to manipulating the general election scheduled to be held in October.

The Pakistan People’s Party was bound to win the polls under the leadership of Benazir Bhutto, they said at a function, held here at the chamber of the opposition leader in the AJK Assembly building to celebrate the re-election of Ms Bhutto as the chairperson of the PPP in the intra-party elections on Sunday.

Former minister and AJKPP Secretary-General Chaudhry Latif Akbar was the chief guest of the function, which was presided over by Legislative Assembly member Gulzar Fatima.

Mr Akbar viewed the unopposed election of Ms Bhutto as a reflection of the military government’s failure to create cracks in the party, whose every worker, he said, was united under Ms Bhutto’s leadership.

He warned the military regime against causing any further damage to the country’s goodwill at the international level by manipulating the October polls.

Ms Fatima said the People’s Party workers from Kashmir to Sindh were ready to offer any sacrifice on the call of their beloved leader.

She remarked that the elections would have no credibility if conducted by keeping Ms Bhutto out of the process.

She demanded of the military government to hold negotiations with Ms Bhutto for a powerful federation.

AJKPP Deputy Chief Organizer Shoukat Javed Mir said if the regime engineered the polls to get results of its own choice, the country might undergo a civil war- like situation.