ISLAMABAD, March 18: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has taken a strong note of remarks by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in which she had underscored the need for fair and free elections in Pakistan in 2007. Talking to this reporter on Friday, ARD secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said Ms Rice’s statement had disappointed the democracy-loving forces in the country. He said the US had no right to decide when the elections should be held in Pakistan as it was the exclusive right of the people of the country. He was of the view that delaying elections to 2007 could be harmful to the country. Mr Jhagra, who is also secretary-general of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said an emergency meeting of the ARD had been convened in Peshawar on Saturday to discuss the Balochistan situation and Ms Rice’s statement. Another ARD leader and People’s Party Parliamentarians spokesman Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar termed Ms Rice’s statement disappointing and said the people of Pakistan were expecting that the US would call for promoting genuine democracy in the country.

The senator said there was no need for Ms Rice to endorse the present ‘undemocratic’ set-up. “It allows Gen Musharraf to continue with the undemocratic dispensation till 2007,” he added.

Mr Babar reminded Ms Rice that elections held in 2002 were declared ‘flawed’ by the international community. Therefore, he said, the present set-up in Pakistan could not be termed a genuine democracy and it was a “sham set-up.”