March 14, 2003	Friday	Muharram 10, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 13: Pakistan People’s Party has expressed concern over the use of military in Senate elections, and said President Gen Pervez Musharraf wanted the upper house to be a subordinate branch of the Pakistan military intelligence.

The PPP, in a statement issued on Thursday, said that the party condemned the unprecedented meddling of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in the Senate elections.

“The PPP is concerned and condemns the over militarization of the federation, the state and the society at a time of grave crisis for the country and larger world community,” the statement said, adding that Pakistan was founded in the name of democracy by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, but “today the founder’s dream is being shattered as democracy is systematically killed in the country”.

It said that the sham democracy ushered in by the military regime by rigging the elections, mutilating Constitution and back dated and individual specific laws were robbing the people of their political and economic rights.

As development and democracy go together, the absence of democracy had stalled all development in the country, it said.

The statement said: “The PPP is concerned that the task of orientation dinner for senators was also given to the intelligence agencies to perform in the military intelligence headquarters by the Musharraf regime.

“The Musharraf regime wanted the Senate to be a subordinate branch of the Pakistan military intelligence in its bid to kill democracy as it is obvious from the press reports of dinner hosted by ISI.”

It said: “The death of democracy threatens the security of the nation and the well being of its people. The Pakistan People’s Party protests the use of the intelligence agencies to oversee the activities of the newly elected senators.”

PPP called for a professional army whose officers were not tainted with politics and uphold the oath of allegiance to the Constitution.