KARACHI, July 15: The Pakistan Peoples party – Sindh chapter on Friday demanded that the provincial coalition government be replaced with a neutral interim arrangement to ensure free, fair and transparent local government election. This was stated by the PPP Sindh Information Secretary, Dr Fahmida Mirza, at a news conference along with party office bearers at the Peoples Secretariat on Friday.

Dr Mirza, Waqar Mehdi, deputy information secretary, MPA Shazia Marri, information secretary women wing Sindh, and Raheel Iqbal, information secretary Karachi alleged that the Sindh chief minister, governor, and federal and provincial ministers were interfering into and running election campaigns besides using government resources.

Dr Mirza said her party was taking up the matter with the election commission.

The meeting also expressed deep grief over the train disaster at Ghotki and adopted a resolution condemning the government’s inefficiency, which was trying to mislead people. It said the railways minister should have resigned after the disaster.

Dr Mirza alleged that transfers and postings of government officials were still taking place despite the announcement of election schedule, terming it a violation of the election commission’s orders.

Shazia Marri alleged that amendments in the SLGO, giving the chief minister discretionary powers to remove nazims, was a glaring example of the regime’s corruption, which negated the very concept of devolution and freedom.

She also alleged President Pervez Musharraf of interfering into the LG elections by campaigning for his favourites and announcing projects at the time of elections to lure people.

Meanwhile, head of the PPP Local Bodies’ Election Monitoring Cell in Sindh and PPP Central Information Secretary Taj Haider demanded the chief election commissioner (CEC) to take cognizance of reports about terrorism, posting of officials on key posts after the announcement of election schedule, fixing of polling stations in autaqs of government ministers, and victimization of government opponents.

He said if the CEC intended improving the image of the Election Commission, nationally and internationally, then he must act according to the law against all excesses and punish the wrongdoers irrespective of their position or authority.

On the question of holding election under army supervision or handing over certain ‘sensitive’ constituencies to the army, he said the CEC should realize that the army was a party in national politics.

He alleged that the army had previously been instrumental in massive rigging, in elections held under its supervision, in favour of candidates of agencies.

In the last local bodies’ elections in Karachi, he said the army kept changing results for one full week, and so many Awam Dost nazims and councillors, who had been declared winners, were ultimately declared to have lost the elections.

Mr Haider pointed out that democratic circles in the country had been disappointed over the fact that the CEC laid emphasis on ensuring that elections were held on non-party basis. However, the ground reality, he said, was that in spite of orders and pronouncements, elections could never be held on non-party basis.