October 10, 2006	Tuesday	Ramazan 16, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: The Pakistan People’s Party has asked the chief election commissioner (CEC) to take notice of President Pervez Musharraf’s October 8 speech in Muzaffarabad, wherein he called upon the people to vote for candidates supported by him in the next general elections.

Leader of the opposition in Senate and PPP deputy secretary general Mian Raza Rabbani, in a statement issued here on Monday, drew the CEC’s attention towards the disclosure made by Gen Musharraf in his memories In the Line of Fire that he in consultation with others created the PML-Q, which the PPP leader said amounted to campaigning for a particular party.

Mr Rabbani said the CEC would recall that a couple of months ago he had categorically stated that a president could not carry out election campaign for any political party.

It is now for the chief election commissioner to prove his credentials to the masses and assert his independent status as guaranteed under the constitution, he added.

The PPP leader said: “Should the CEC fail to act then the perception will be confirmed that under the present regime free, fair and impartial elections cannot be held.”

Mr Rabbani said the combined opposition would devise its strategy for intensifying the struggle against the regime after Eid.