December 14, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 3, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: Opposition Leader in the Senate Raza Rabbani has feared that the January 8 elections would be heavily rigged while the Election Commission (ECP) watches as a silent spectator.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, Mr Rabbani alleged that the ECP had failed to perform its constitutional duties and obligations of holding free, fair and transparent elections.

The PPP senator said the caretaker setup was extension of the previous regime of the PML-Q. He said relatives of some of the caretakers were contesting the elections. In Sindh, he said there were four caretaker ministers whose wife, brother or cousins were contesting for either the National or the provincial assembly seat on the ticket of the Q league or their coalition partners. “What sort of transparency can be expected,” he said.

Mr Rabbani said there were 17 district nazims whose relatives were contesting on the Q’s ticket or their coalition partners. He said this was apart from the scores of tehsil nazims, who were supporting the PML-Q candidates. He said it was for this reason the PPP had been demanding that local bodies be suspended in order to ensure fair and free elections.

The PPP senator said the failure of the ECP to take notice of the massive transfers and postings of judicial officers by the previous regime and the caretaker governments had already left a basic framework for a rigged election. “The failure of the ECP to respond to the opposition complaints leads one to the conclusion that it itself is a party to this rigging,” he said.

The senator called for restoration of pre-emergency judges to ensure independence of judiciary and extended his support to the lawyers in their ongoing struggle for the cause of democracy and rule of law.