July 05, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 8, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, July 4: Central Information Secretary of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Sherry Rehman on Tuesday expressed her apprehension that the military regime would not hold free and fair elections in the country in 2007, which is evident from its “corrupt, vindictive and undemocratic policies”.

In a statement, the PPP information secretary said the preparation of fresh voters list under the present dispensation would only lead to addition of more bogus votes.

Ms Rehman said general elections 2002 and the local bodies elections in 2001 and 2005 had already proved the helplessness of the Election Commission of Pakistan before the state functionaries. The PPP leader said the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy through a resolution had demanded resignation of Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz by July 31 “failing which a vote of no-confidence could be moved against the regime”.

Ms Rehman also expressed grave concern over the state of the Federation, which was swamped by internal violence. In the absence of a fair NFC formula, she said, the provinces felt deprived of their legitimate rights. On the other hand, she added, the strife in NWFP and Balochistan had only worsened, because of the Army’s immature policy of using state force to settle political disputes.

“The regime’s failure in controlling violence in the Northern Areas and to address the grievances of the Balochs was due to the fact that it did not enjoy the necessary credibility or representation among the people, neither did it have the political sensitivity required to deal with these issues in a pragmatic manner,” she said.

On the contrary, she pointed out, the regime was responsible for the violation of human rights and the loss of life of innocent men, women and children in Waziristan and other tribal areas of the NWFP, and for hundreds of illegal disappearances in Balochistan.

Ms Rehman said while the country was beset with serious political and economic problems, the regime had further strengthened itself by empowering a clique of industrialists, bankers, stock brokers, land grabbers, large landowners and civil and military bureaucrats. The result, she observed, had been retrenchment, economic suicides, squeeze of middle class and lower middle class, price hike and inflation.

She said thanks to its tacit support, not only the sugar, cement, stock exchange and oil cartels had maximised their profits at the cost of the common man, the regime’s non- transparent and corrupt privatization policy had also resulted in the creation of more cartels, leading to the loss of precious state assets.