October 27, 2007	Saturday	Shawwal 14, 1428

QUETTA, Oct 26: The need for an impartial caretaker government, an independent Election Commission, restoration of the 1973 Constitution, provincial autonomy for the four provinces and end to military operations in the country to ensure free, fair and transparent elections were stressed by leading personages here on Friday. Addressing a seminar on “National integration and the coming election” organised by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency here on Friday, former chief justice of Pakistan Justice (retd) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui said the country required all political parties, civil society and intellectuals to play their role to ensure fair elections.

He said he was not sure that political parties would be given a fair chance to take part in the elections without interference from the army, secret agencies and foreign powers.

Justice Siddiqui said he was not foreseeing transparent elections under the present set-up or the formation of an independent and impartial caretaker government.

Former governor of Sindh Lt-Gen (retd) Moinuddin Haider said that situation would change only if all the political parties worked for the betterment of the country. He urged the political parties to jointly struggle for an independent Election Commission.

Former governor of Punjab Barrister Shahid Hamid observed that political parties did not accept election results even when they were held fairly and cited the East Pakistan tragedy as an example.

Balochistan’s former governor Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch said the rulers were adopting measures which indicated that elections would not be fair and alleged that a plan had already been prepared to rig the elections. He said that the rulers were saying that they wanted to hold fair elections after the promulgation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance, but they were not allowing PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to return to the country.

Former director-general of ISI and Military Intelligence Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani said that an elected government could have taken better decisions after the 9/11 incident.

National Party president Dr Hayee Baloch said Baloch people were being killed in military operations. He asked political leaders, journalists, intellectuals and members of the civil society to highlight the issue of Balochistan.

BNP-M secretary-general Habib Jalib alleged that the rulers had already started pre-election rigging by allocating huge funds to PML-Q ministers and MPAs in the province.

Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party secretary-general Akram Shah said Pakhtuns had been divided in the 1973 Constitution and rulers had not allowed democracy and institutions to flourish.