January 10, 2008	Thursday	Zilhaj 30, 1428

LAHORE, Jan 9: The PML-N alleges that around 5,000 bogus postal ballots will be cast in favour of the candidates of former ruling party, the PML-Q.

PML-N nominee for PP-154 Chaudhry Asif Ashraf says at least 4,300 postal ballots had been issued for NA-127 in last election (under which his own provincial assembly constituency PP-154 falls).

The ballots, he says, were a part of the former ruling clique’s pre-poll rigging plan as these were to be cast for PML-Q nominee Abdul Aleem Khan but could not because a source had informed them (PML-N) on-time.

“We, through our counsel, challenged the postal ballots issued against incomplete or false addresses and national identity card numbers. A delegation of all the rival candidates also called on returning officer Muhammad Anwer Butt and got stopped casting of the votes,” Ashraf says.

Postal ballots are issued besides prisoners and government employees who cannot use their right to franchise on the polling day due to imprisonment (in case of prisoners) or official duty.

According to Mr Ashraf, usually 60 to 70 postal ballots had been issued in each National Assembly constituency in the last general election. Their number may double in the past five years but cannot go up 50 times if one goes by the jobs given by the past government, he argues.

He alleges Gulberg Town Administration’s machinery and funds are also being used in the election campaign of Mr Khan this time as the nazim of the town is a relative of the PML-Q nominee.

He says he has so far written nine letters to the Election Commission of Pakistan, narrating violation of its code of conduct as well as various rigging measures taken by the PML-Q candidates but to no avail.

JI: Jamat-i-Islami Amir Qazi Husain Ahmad said western powers are trying to use the situation arising after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to destabilise Pakistan.

Expressing concern over UN Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed Elbaradei’s statement that Pakistan’s nuclear assets could fall into the hands of the extremists, at a JI meeting at Mansoora here on Wednesday, he said the western press had been spreading negative propaganda against Pakistan’s nuclear programme since a long time. Besides, he added, important US government functionaries were also in the habit of issuing aggressive statements about the country’s nuclear programme.