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LAHORE, Aug 27: Rejecting local polls results, opposition parties have demanded immediately general election under a chief election commissioner who enjoys the trust of the opposition. At a joint press conference here on Saturday, leaders of the PPP, the PML-N, the MMA, the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf and the PDP demanded that there should be no role of the armed forces in active politics and that judiciary and election commission be made independent and potent.
Those who spoke on the occasion included Zulfiqar Khosa, Liaquat Baloch, Admiral Javed Iqbal (retired), Nawabzada Mansoor, Zaeem Qadri, Naveed Chaudhry, Omar Sarfraz Cheema and others.
The admiral said it was the first time that even members of the ruling party had levelled rigging allegations.
Mr Khosa said the polling results were changed overnight and founder of the district government system Daniyal Aziz had reportedly resigned, alleging rigging by a federal minister in his district.
Mr Baloch said state machinery was used to amass support for PML nominees.
He alleged that foreign observers were also biased as they were not ready to blame Gen Musharraf who was working to accomplish the agenda of the West.
He claimed that the senior vice-president of the ruling PML had also written to the CEC, exposing the rigging in local polls.
He regretted that corrupt officials of the election commission, judiciary and administration were used to deface the democracy as the commission took no notice of pre-poll rigging by Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
He said MMA president Qazi Husain Ahmad was coordinating with other opposition leaders to adopt a joint stance in the Sept 4 national leaders conference.
The Nawabzada said against the past practice the commission did not announce code of conduct and list of district returning officers and returning officers along with the schedule of polls.
Naveed Chaudhry demanded interim set-up to immediately hold general election under an independent and impartial commission.
QASIM ZIA: Punjab PPP president Qasim Zia, alleging that the local elections in Gujrat had been rigged at an unprecedented level, demanded re-polling and inquiry by the high court into the irregularities.
He said at a news conference the opposition would raise the rigging issue both in court and the assemblies. He said the party would continue its struggle for democracy and the supremacy of the constitution.
Ruling out the possibility of the PPP boycotting the third phase of the local elections in which nazims would be elected, Mr Zia said the party had exposed the government in the earlier two phases and would do the same now.
Former secretary-general Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar said his party had repeatedly demanded that Gujrat be declared a sensitive district but the election commission had not yielded.
He said the party would move the court against the alleged lawlessness in Gujrat on the polling day. “We’ll be left with no option but to take up arms in case we don’t get justice from courts.”
He alleged that a thousand ballot papers had been provided to every ruling party candidate in Gujrat.
The PPP leaders showed the media counterfoils of the ballot papers and stamps they had snatched from the ruling party people on the day of elections.
Gujrat’s Ghazanfar Gul said many people were injured in election-related clashes. Some of them were also present at the news conference.
