European Parliament urges re-election by new assemblies
By M. Ziauddin
LONDON, July 13: In what appeared to be an unusual move, the European Parliament has sounded a warning to President Musharraf through a 19-point resolution to desist from getting himself re-elected from the outgoing parliament and also asked him to give up his army post.
The relevant clauses of the resolution said: “(The European Parliament)urges the government of Pakistan to return to democratic government by holding free, fair and democratic elections by the end of the year and warns against the imposition of emergency rule or other measures to suppress freedom of speech, association, assembly or movement (and);
“Encourages President Musharraf to respect the existing Constitution by allowing the new assemblies to hold presidential elections and by relinquishing his post of army chief, which he had previously agreed to do in an undertaking to the EU.”
The resolution says that a clear message should be conveyed to President Musharraf that a transition to civilian rule by strengthening democratic institutions and processes was the only acceptable way out of the current crisis.
The resolution referred to the third-generation cooperation agreement between the Community and Pakistan, in particular Article 1 of the agreement which, it said, stipulated that “respect for human rights and democratic principles...constitutes an essential element of this agreement”.
The resolution urged the armed forces of Pakistan to allow free and fair elections, including the possibility for exiled political leaders to return to Pakistan and stand for office, and called for measures to be taken to limit the influence of the military and other armed groups on the political and democratic processes. It also expressed concern about the neutrality of the caretaker government.
