February 26, 2008	Tuesday	Safar 18, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Feb 25: Several candidates of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from Punjab have blamed intelligence agencies for their defeat in the election.

The candidates who had lost the election briefed the party leadership the causes of their defeat at two meetings at Zardari House on Monday.

According to PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar, the party’s co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari presided over the meetings of the candidates, who had lost the election.

When asked about the role of the agencies in the areas where the PPP had won, Mr Babar said the losing candidates had come up with facts and figures and certain proofs.

He said it was up to the people to draw the conclusion how it was possible that in some polling stations the turnout was 99.7 per cent.

He said some candidates said they had lost because of weaknesses in the party’s organisation or election campaign.

However, several others highlighted the role of the intelligence agencies in their constituencies and told the party leadership that officials of the agencies had openly supported the Pakistan Muslim League-Q. Mr Babar said that some candidates had alleged that officials of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had remained active during the whole election exercise to manipulate the process. Some of them informed the leadership that IB officials had set up offices in different areas and they had the proof that PML-Q people had kept meeting them during the election days.

The spokesman said it appeared that rigging had been committed in a scientific and organised manner.

He said the party had received complaints that the IB had remained active in Punjab, Inter-Services Intelligence in Sindh and Military Intelligence in Balochistan during the election.

More than 30 candidates reported that over 99 per cent votes had been polled in some polling stations in their constituencies.

Candidates from Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore, Multan, Bahawlapur and Dera Ghazi Khan attended the meetings.

Mr Babar quoted Mr Zardari as saying that the PPP had documented how victory had been snatched from a number of its candidates through a calculated rigging plan.

He asked them not to be discouraged by the setback and focus on improving their election strategy and stopping polls from being stolen.

He asked them to identify the problems faced by people in their constituencies and draw up plans for meeting their demands when the party formed the government. He said the party would formulate polices in the light of the advice of its members.

“Losing the election does not mean that the battle is over for you,” Mr Zardari said, adding: “It only means that you will carry on the fight at other political forums outside parliament while those who have won will carry on the fight inside the Parliament House.”

If the election had not been selectively rigged the party would have fared much better, he said.

He asked the candidates to seek redress of their grievances and expose the systematic rigging by approaching the relevant bodies through the party’s election monitoring cells.

Meetings of the losing candidates from Sindh will be held on Tuesday followed by a joint meeting for Frontier and Balochistan on Thursday.