April 26, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 25: The Charter of Democracy that PPP leader Benazir Bhutto and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif are expected to sign in May binds them to form a truth commission and to a predetermined foreign policy in the region, a source told Dawn on Tuesday.

Both parties agreed that the “Sachchai (truth) Commission” was needed to provide justice to all those people who were killed, tortured or jailed between 1976 and 2005 because of state oppression.

The Charter lays down that which ever party comes to power in a free and fair election it would negotiate a non-military solution of the Kashmir dispute with India, “make effective” the Benazir-Rajiv Gandhi agreement against attacking designated nuclear sites of each other and seeks the formation of a common market in South Asia, according to the source.

It also binds the two parties to devise a new formula for the distribution and use of resources by the provinces.

The source said the PPP and PML-N had decided not to repeat the past mistakes and would allow each other’s government to complete its term. The charter also outlined steps for making the election commission more powerful and independent.

In addition the Charter of Democracy delineates a mechanism for appointment of judges purely on merit.

The source said that it had been given in the charter that 4.5 per cent of the country’s GDP would be allocated for education.

Though the PPP and the PML-N had agreed to join hands in the parliament to make amendments to the constitution to bring it to its pre-October 12, 1999 position, the source said, it had been a desire of Ms Bhutto to bring the constitution to the position of July 5, 1977 when late Gen Ziaul Haq imposed the martial law in the country.

The source said that the two parties had agreed in principle to bring the constitution first to the position of October 12, 1999 and then to the position of July 5, 1977.

In the first phase, the charter would be signed by the PPP and the PML-N and then other component parties of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and other opposition parties would be invited to sign it so that democracy could be strengthened in the country, the source said.