February 26, 2008	Tuesday	Safar 18, 1429

LAHORE, Feb 25: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has demanded convening of newly-elected national and provincial assemblies and transfer of power to majority parties/coalitions so that desire of the people for a change in the presidency and restoration of judges could be expeditiously addressed.

In a press, the HRCP welcomed the people’s verdict and felicitated them for foiling the designs of various elements that wanted to interfere with the electoral process through threats of violence, blackmail and bribery.

It said the election commission’s failure to rise to the minimum acceptable standards of efficiency, respect for democratic imperatives and irregularities during and after the polling would be taken up in due course.

At the moment, it said, all political parties, including those boycotted the elections, should devote their attention to the transition to democratic governance.

The HRCP said the election results left President Musharraf with no option but to withdraw from the political scene. It said the disclosure of president Musharraf’s involvement in the rigging of 2002 elections by Maj-Gen Ehtisham Zamir (retired), a former head of the ISI’s political cell, had made the incumbent head of the state’s position much more untenable than ever.

The HRCP said it saw no strength in the assertion by some quarters that the change in the presidency might affect the war on terror.