08 July 2004	Thursday	19 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

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ISLAMABAD, July 7: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has finalized its preparations to file objections with the Election Commission against Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz for violating the basic legal requirements to contest by-election.

Spokesperson of Peoples Party Parliamentarians Senator Farhatullah Babar said the objections would relate to at least three violations including the nationality issue of Mr Aziz, attempts to influence the outcome of the elections through use of state machinery and the contentious issue of his resignation as finance minister.

Leader of the National Democratic Alliance in the Senate, Senator Raza Rabbani placed the evidence before the Senate deputy chairman, Commander (retd) Khalilur Rehman, regarding use of official media facilities and officials for coverage of Mr Aziz's election-related visit to Attock.

Political sources said the photographs of the protocol officer of the finance minister, Mr Hassan, were splashed in most of the leading papers as Mr Aziz was filing his nomination papers before the returning officer in Attock.

They said it was an additional evidence of use of official facilities and officials for election related activities of Mr Aziz besides the evidence brought on record in the Senate.

Interestingly enough, the senator from treasury benches, Gulshan Sayed, defended the presence of Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz EIahi and other federal ministers on the ground that Mr Aziz and the others were all part of the government.

She said come what may, Mr Aziz would be elected as the prime minister. Mr Aziz is yet to come out openly and say that he does not hold an American citizenship despite a point raised on the floor of the Senate by the opposition alleging his dual nationality.

The election commission, vide its directive, on July 29, 2002, asked the executive authorities in the Federation and in the provinces to ensure that the state resources anywhere in Pakistan were not used for unfair advantage of any political party or candidate during election period.

The government is still in a quandary to clarify if the exercise to get Mr Aziz elected as prime minister would be under the rules of games notified for October 2002 elections or the goal posts would be changed.

The opposition apprehends that the government would be forced to a retract Gen Musharraf's proclaimed practice of good governance of elections and might issue a new notification to facilitate the election of Mr Aziz.

Senator Raza Rabbani told Dawn that Article 223 cannot be read in isolation and Article 224 Clause (7) embodies the spirit of making the elections free from undue influence by debarring the caretaker cabinet ministers from contesting an election.

"The Constitution contemplates the cabinet ministers should not be able to influence the elections by using the state machinery," Senator Rabbani said. He said the Constitution did not cater to freak situations where a sitting minister was to contest election.

He said precedents existed even under Musharraf regime when Abbas Sarfraz and Zobaida Jalal resigned to contest the elections. Even during the caretaker government of Malik Meraj Khalid, he added, Abida Hussain, resigned as minister to contest the elections.

In response to a question, Senator Rabbani said, "the goal posts would be changed by the government not once but many a times to get Mr Aziz elected as MNA." Though the government would like to have an easy sailing for Mr Aziz even if it amounts to changing the goal posts, the opposition is gearing up for a long drawn out legal battle for historical records despite a known outcome of the elections.