KARACHI, July 31: The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) has announced that it has reached an understanding with the Awam Dost Panel to support each other’s candidates in the local bodies’ polls.

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Sunday, the APMA chief, Shahbaz Bhatti, along with Saleem Khursheed Khokhar, Michael Javed and others pointed towards the harassment of the minority community’s candidates and urged the election commission to provide a level playing field to all contestants so that true representatives of the people could emerge victorious.

They said that APMA had fielded over 2,000 candidates all over the country, out of which over 50 had returned unopposed.

They formally announced that APMA had reached an understanding with the Awam Dost panel, supported by the Pakistan Peoples Party, to help each other in the local bodies’ elections.

He said that though the elections were being held on the basis of joint electorate, confusion was being created in the rural areas that these were being organized on the basis of separate electorate, and the minority community members could only vote for the minority community candidates.

He said that in some areas of Sindh like Tharparkar district, minority candidates, who wanted to contest the posts of nazim or naib-nazim or for seats of workers, peasants, etc, had not been allowed to do so.

He urged the election commission and the government to make aware the voters that elections were being held on the joint electorate system and all registered voters – regardless of their religion – could contest any post and could vote for anyone.

He said that he had received a large number of complaints from minority candidates, who had alleged that they were being harassed by the authorities, and were being forced to withdraw in favour of candidates supported by the ruling party.

Supporting the anti-terrorism campaign, Mr Bhatti urged the government to make it effective and continue it until terrorism was completely uprooted, and extremist and terrorist elements were caught and brought to book.

He said that at present the government launched campaigns only when there were terrorist attacks in the West, which created an impression that the campaigns were started under pressure from the West.

He suggested that Gen Musharraf should call back all popular political leaders including Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Altaf Hussain, take them into confidence, and organize an all-parties conference on terrorism, so that a consensus could be reached and a decision could be taken after which, the action against terrorists would have full support from the people.

He said that religious extremism had taken roots during the regime of Gen Zia when political parties were not allowed to function, and a vacuum was created, which was filled in by religious extremists.

He also demanded that all discriminatory laws against minorities and other vulnerable sections of society including women should be abolished.