January 08, 2008	Tuesday	Zilhaj 28, 1428

LAHORE, Jan 7: The assassination of Benazir Bhutto has made the situation in Pakistan worse and elections have been postponed despite the demand by the parties, including the most affected the Pakistan People’s Party, for sticking to the scheduled date of Jan 8.

Activists of civil society organisations and concerned citizens, including HRCP representatives from the four provinces, met at the Commission’s Lahore office to discuss the overall situation and the upcoming elections.

Expressing their concerns and demands, a statement said despite setting the new date for elections there were growing apprehensions of further postponement and lawlessness.

Terming Gen Musharraf’s decision to use the army during and after the elections ominous, they said it aims to stifle dissent and public opinion through the use of force. The participants demanded that there must be no further delay in elections, as this will only exacerbate the crisis of state and society.

They condemned lawlessness regardless of the identity of culprits, but insisted that a clear distinction must be made between those who had indulged in looting and destroying public property and those who gave vent to their spontaneous grief and shock.

They expressed concern at reports that the government was using these disturbances as an excuse to enter people’s homes, arrest thousands of political workers and create an environment of fear in the country.

The participants strongly and unequivocally condemned the attempt to give an ethnic colour to the tragedy and its aftermath for electoral advantage. They demanded that all political workers must be released immediately and allowed to exercise their democratic right otherwise the tendency to single out and blame one party for the disturbances would send wrong signals to the victims and further undermine the federal bond, they held.

They said it was the time for Gen Musharraf (retired) and everyone else to recognise that he was now a major part of the problem rather than the solution. The general, they said, must accept responsibility for actions and developments that had contributed to the national crisis, especially since August 2006, such as the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti in Balochistan, the deposition of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, mishandling of the Lal Masjid incident, removal of a majority of the superior judiciary, imposition of martial law under the guise of Emergency and the absolute failure to make adequate security arrangements that resulted in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. They demanded the president should quit office forthwith, and allow the assemblies that would come into existence after the elections to elect the president.

Noting that an independent judiciary was critical to the functioning of a democratic state and order in society, the participants called for the restoration of the judges who had been illegally removed from office. The independence of the judiciary could not be ensured unless the key institution of the superior judiciary was strong and secure, they held.

They said the judges who took a principled stand rather than following the precedent of bowing to the whims of the executive had set a very different standard for the institution, eliciting country-wide resonance. Political parties and society at large must fully and unequivocally endorse their phenomenal act, they added. The participants called upon both the election participants and boycotters to come together to strive for the restoration of the superior judiciary.

Eulogising the lawyers’ movement for the independence of the judiciary, the participants urged they should be extended full support by the other sections of civil society and political parties to continue their struggle.

They demanded repeal of the Pemra ordinance and removal of all restrictions on the media.

The meeting noted the real menace of militancy and extremism had to be countered politically. Under no circumstance must force be used indiscriminately as such a policy had led to the death of innocent civilians, they argued. This was the inevitable fallout of an undemocratic state and lack of consensus on the basis of a political strategy, they said. In this regard the meeting took a serious view of Gen Musharraf’s snide and derogatory comments on Pakistani society, which he claimed was not developed enough to deserve democracy and democratic institutions.

The participants said such unmerited denigration was what emboldened the regime’s external patrons, the United States in particular, to assume that Pakistan deserved nothing better than autocracy and rule by decree. The government’s continued collusion with the US administration had seriously damaged Pakistan’s sovereignty and turned it into a satellite state that put the interest of the US before the interests of its own people, they held.

The participants noted that the government’s claims of good governance and economic growth were belied by the rising cost of food and essential items. A minimum of eight-hour power cuts, shortages of water and gas were seriously impacting people’s lives and livelihoods, they said. As always, the worst hit were the vulnerable sections of society: the poor, women, minorities and children, they held.

The manifestos of the political parties taking part in the elections were also discussed at the meeting. While appreciating the parties’ efforts to address the many issues confronting the state and the people, the participants said greater attention needed to be paid to the means of combating religious extremism, discrimination against women, minorities and the economically marginalised. It was also necessary to plan for the elimination of poverty and guarantee a fair deal to the tillers of the soil and the working people.

There was unanimity on the point that Pakistan’s tribulations would not end so long as the social, political and economic system was not changed. They said that even after the polls - and assuming the acceptance of results by the people - those sitting in assemblies and those boycotting the polls both would face the challenge of putting the state back on the rails.

They said the people of Pakistan called upon the political parties to knit together and integrate all parts of the federation and to reform all legal, administrative and political structures so as to end denial of full citizenship and other basic rights to the people of the Northern Areas and FATA, and to adopt measures that could ensure that equity and justice would govern the relationship between the provinces. Without such steps, no progress would be possible, they warned.