February 04, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 15, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 3: Leaders of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) on Saturday warned President Gen Pervez Musharraf of a Ukraine-style Orange Revolution in the country if he tried to rig the next general elections as done in 2002.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of a booklet “How Elections Are Rigged in Pakistan,” prepared by People’s Institute of Democracy (PID) of the recently-formed Shaheed Bhutto Foundation (SBF) here, the PPP leaders pointed out flaws in the ongoing voters’ registration process and alleged that the government had already started pre-poll rigging.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Director I.A. Rehman, who was the chief guest at the ceremony, however, cast his doubt over the claims made by the PPP leaders regarding launching of Orange Revolution in the country. He was of the view that for bringing a revolution, the party needed to take practical steps now without waiting for the “election drama”.

The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from November 2004 to January 2005 in the aftermath of the run-off vote of the presidential election which was compromised by massive corruption, voter intimidation and direct electoral fraud.

I.A. Rehman said the election under Gen Musharraf would be a drama. He said election could not be held in a country without constitution. He said Orange Revolution was the only solution to the country’s problems and the political leadership must think about it right now.

The HRCP director said the lists of winners and losers in the next elections had already been prepared. He urged the political parties to play their role and think of a strategy for the election under Gen Musharraf and without the participation of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in it.

Opposition leader in the Senate Raza Rabbani said the people of Pakistan should not expect that foreign observers or NGOs would play any role for their rights. He alleged that foreign observers had their own vested interests and in the past they had always endorsed the results and supported the civil-military bureaucracy.

He said if Gen Musharraf tried to get himself re-elected from the present assemblies then it would be the biggest pre-poll rigging.

Mr Rabbani alleged that the voters’ registration process was faulty and a large number of eligible voters particularly in the PPP strongholds had not been registered. He gave examples of Thatha, Nawabshah and Karachi South districts where the number of registered voters had been reduced to almost half as compared to the 2002 election. He also quoted a news item based on a report of an intelligence agency claiming that over 22 million voters had not been registered so far.

Mr Rabbani warned that a time would come when people of Pakistan would launch Orange Revolution to resist the efforts to change the election results.

Head of the PID and former senator Farhatullah Babar said the PPP was producing a detailed report on the mysterious disappearances of citizens.

He said the party was examining international laws on the subject that made individuals committing the crime liable to international tribunals even long after the commission of the crime.