NEW YORK, Oct 9: Maintaining that Pakistan’s entire election process has been deeply flawed and the Oct 10 parliamentary vote is stacked against democratic rule, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has asked the Pakistan government to address poll-related abuses and a meaningful transfer of power to civilian rule.

In a statement issued on Wednesday on the eve of elections in Pakistan, HRW’s director of Asia division, Brad Adams, asked the government to follow election rules and ensure the political rights of all candidates.

It also sought steps to ensure fair pools, which include:

* Allow international and domestic election observers unfettered and unconditional access to polling stations;

* Allow the Election Commission to immediately investigate allegations of poll-rigging and police raids on political party offices and take corrective action;

* Immediately rescind all restrictions on political meetings and rallies imposed after Musharraf’s October 1999 coup; and

* Withdraw constitutional amendments unilaterally imposed in August that formalize the military’s role in governance, including the formation of a military-dominated National Security Council.

However, Adams said it may be too late for this election to be conducted in a free and fair manner, but it was still crucial that election day, and the vote-counting process, remain free of intimidation and corruption.

“Pakistan’s military government has employed a variety of legal and political tactics to control the process and outcome of the elections.

“Those tactics include constitutional amendments giving President Pervez Musharraf virtually unfettered powers over parliament and government, and the revision of electoral procedures that effectively eliminate the leaders of the two major political parties from participating in the election,” the HRW noted.

At the same time, the HRW said the military government had offered overt support to Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-i-Azam (PML-QA) candidates, while working hard to sideline two mainstream political parties: the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

In the weeks preceding the elections, human rights activists, Pakistani journalists as well as the PML-N and the PPP members had alleged extensive poll-rigging by the military government.

Allegations include the relocation of polling booths at the behest of the PML-QA, the appointment of polling officers handpicked by the PML-QA, the tearing down of campaign posters and banners, police raids on the PPP and the PML-N offices and police harassment of the PPP and PML-N workers and candidates at the behest of the government.

On Oct 6, Punjab’s Jhelum district police forcibly closed two election offices of the PPP and one of the PML-N and beat up their workers. In response to various complaints, the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan issued a statement on Sept 21 warning the police not to harass any contesting candidate, the HRW said.

The European Union and Japan have sent a delegation of election observers to monitor the election process while the Commonwealth has sent a team of monitors to determine whether conditions exist for a free and democratic election.

Adams decried that the international community, and the United States in particular, have been reluctant to speak out forcefully on the issue of democratic reform in Pakistan in order to encourage Pakistan’s continued support in the war against terrorism. When he met President Musharraf at the United Nations last month, US President George W. Bush praised Pakistan as a “key partner” in the war on terrorism but made only vague comments about reform, saying adherence to democracy is a key.

ARMS DEALS: The United States-Pakistan Defence Consultative Group met in Islamabad from Sept 24-27, the first time since US sanctions were imposed following Pakistan’s nuclear tests in 1998, to discuss arms deals and the possible resumption of joint military exercises. The US authorized the sale of aircraft, Harpoon missiles and other equipment totalling about $400 million. More arms transfers are expected.