February 06, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 27, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 5: The Pakistan People’s Party’s local leadership has criticised the caretaker Sindh government for ‘injecting violence’ into the upcoming elections, and alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched at the Governor’s House to create a law and order problem to steal the elections for the former ruling coalition partners.

This was stated by Nabeel Ahmad Gabol, PPP’s national assembly candidate from Lyari, at a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday. Mr Gabol was accompanied by Rashid Rabbani and Rafiq Engineer, president and general secretary of the local chapter of the PPP, respectively.

He demanded that the army be deputed inside the polling stations to oversee smooth polling and to check attempts to fix the ballot. He claimed that the PPP would win more than 100 seats in Sindh, but in the greater interest of harmony in the province, it would cooperate with other parties that demonstrated a genuine desire to work for the rights of Sindh and its people.

Nabeel Gabol, whose election rally was attacked in Lyari on Monday, also held the provincial government responsible for the death of a young man, who succumbed to his bullet injuries he suffered during the attack.

He alleged that such attacks were part of a well planned conspiracy to keep the people away from the polling stations and force them to stay indoors.

He said that providing security of life and property to the common man was the government’s responsibility, which it had failed miserably to carry out.

He accused former Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Rahim of organizing a “terrorist squad” comprising his workers from Thar and activists of a coalition party to vitiate the law and order situation in Lyari and other areas.

Nabeel alleged that when he tried to get an FIR of Monday’s incident registered with the TPO, he refused to do so “due to pressure from the high-ups”.

He emphasized that developments in Lyari would have serious ramifications for the rest of Sindh. He also alleged that terrorists had taken refuge in the Kalri and Baghdadi areas of Lyari.

He warned elements who were trying to create a law and order problem through armed attacks and spread of rumours, and said that elections on Feb 18 were necessary for Sindh and the country’s peace and integrity.

President of PPP’s Karachi chapter Rashid Rabbani warned the government to desist from harassing PPP activists and the public in the run-up to the Feb 18 elections and that if the situation persisted, the responsibility for the consequences would rest with the government.

Secretary-General of the PPP’s local chapter Rafiq Engineer said the “Governor House people should refrain from a policy of conquering Lyari and Karachi’s outskirts. PPP does not want the city to be sucked into violence caused by ethnicity, sectarianism or regionalism.”

He also demanded that elections in the city be held under the supervision of the army, because police and Rangers could not provide protection to candidates and voters.

The PPP leaders demanded that the Chief Election Commission take notice of the firing incidents on PPP candidates and workers in the Central district of the city and to direct the quarters concerned that all political parties continue their election campaign without any harassment by their rival political parties’ candidates.

PPP leaders condemned the attacks on its candidates and the removal of party flags and banners in the different parts of Karachi, and warned that if political rivals rigged the election using tactics of violence, its result would be disastrous.

They accused the former ruling coalition partner of making many parts of the city “no-go areas” for their political rivals, and claimed that the ground realities actually exposed the tall claims of the leadership that they were the only representatives of the city.

They called upon the provincial governor to be neutral and take notice of harassment of and firing on PPP workers in the city.

The PPP leaders alleged that promoting violence was a pre-planned strategy of the rulers to harass the voters and create chaos so that voters would no come out at polling stations on Feb 18 and President Pervez Musharraf supporters hijack the election results.

The PPP leaders alleged that not only the party’s election rally was attacked in Lyari but also near Ayesha Manzil by MQM workers.

They also alleged that all SHOs in the city were posted on the direction of the MQM to rig the election, and claimed that the CDGK resources were being used on the MQM candidates’ election campaign.

The PPP has also alleged that some of its workers and supporters were kidnapped and freed after being tortured.