03 October 2004	Sunday	17 Shaban 1425

ISLAMABAD, Oct 2: PPP Central Secretary Information Taj Haider has asked the Election Commission (EC) to improve its credibility, saying it was most unfortunate that the electoral exercise had lost credibility in the eyes of the masses.

He was commenting on a statement issued by the EC in which the PPP was accused of "playing to the masses and the media", in a press release here on Saturday.

Mr Haider said instead of accusing others, the EC should establish its credibility in the eyes of the masses and the media.

"To restore some semblance of credibility, the EC must transcend the fear of dictators and take cognizance of the widely reported massive rigging in the Shaukat Aziz election, which made the election and the EC a laughing stock," he said.

He said the EC had ignored the 53 election complaints, the white paper issued by the PPP about Thar by-electron, the observations of the neutral observers and the report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. It spoke only after the PPP announced to boycott the by-elections, he added.

Before the boycott, the EC was not even prepared to receive the delegation of PPP parliamentarians, he said.

He said the reference to the Sindh chief minister as proof of the fairness of electoral exercise amounted to adding insult to injury as rigging, he alleged, was organized and directed by the chief minister himself.

"If the Arbab family had been winning this seat, why did he have to resort to rigging the election and how is it that Shaukat Aziz, an outsider, received almost double the number of votes than the chief minister had himself got."

He said the EC should ask the Sindh chief minister as to how it was possible that in areas from where a large-scale migration had taken place, voters' turnout was 80 and 90 per cent plus and in some areas even as high as 98 per cent.