February 13, 2008	Wednesday	Safar 05, 1429

SIALKOT, Feb 12: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif has urged the people to come forward and thwart the government’s plans to rig the Feb 18 general elections.

Addressing a public meeting in Saidpur village near Bajwat on Tuesday, the former Punjab chief minister said that the army must act according to its role prescribed in the Constitution to rid the country out of crisis it was facing now.

While canvassing for his party candidate for NA-111, Idrees Bajwa, against PML-Q’s Chaudhry Amir Husain, Sharif said the PML-Q had no vote bank and stood far behind other political parties in terms of popularity among the masses.

Sharif, who is younger brother of PML-N chief and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said the civil administration and heads of other institutions should stay impartial and those who interfered in the electoral process would be taken to task on Feb 19.

Highlighting the PML-N’s facts sheet, he said that the document had revealed the government’s pre-polls rigging plans.

About the possibility of any coalition government, the PML-N president said that his party could form an alliance with those parties who believed in the restoration of pre-Nov 3 judiciary.

Sharif said heads of all state institutions had been tasked by President General Pervez Musharraf (retired) to ensure that ‘King’s Party’ candidates win their seats by hook or by crook.

He said that the Feb 18 elections would prove to be a referendum against the dictator and his allies.

He urged the people to reject the PML-Q’s candidates as it was the party responsible for the destruction of the judiciary and killing of innocent people, including women and children, in the name of war on terror.

PML-N central leader Khwaja Asif, Idrees Bajwa and other local leaders also spoke on the occasion.

Sharif was given a rousing welcome upon his arrival at Sialkot International Airport. He was taken to Saidpur village via Head Marala in a procession.