PESHAWAR, July 16: The Pakistan People’s Party has demanded of the government to constitute an independent Election Commission which could hold free, fair and impartial general election.

PPP provincial general secretary Najmuddin Khan said that the incumbent Election Commissioner had lost his credibility after the controversial referendum.

“The CE has declared the referendum fair and transparent but the government has accepted that it was not transparent,” he said.

He said the government was afraid of the political forces and that was the reason it was reluctant to lift a ban on political activities. He urged the government to restore political activities if it was serious in holding elections in October.

Mr Khan said the rulers were making allout efforts to change the parliamentary system and the basic spirit of the constitution by inserting new amendments to the national document.

The government, he said, wanted to introduce unilateral system of government in the country in which all powers would rest with the president. “It is a planned move to do away with the federal parliamentary system,” he added.

Mr Khan criticised recent raise in the prices of kerosene oil and urged the government to take measures for controlling the price-hike.

Meanwhile, Behramand Tangi, a spokesman for the PPP, has dispelled the impression created by certain quarters that PPP provincial chief Khwaja Mohammad KHan Hoti is not a graduate.

The anti-PPP forces, he said, were defaming the the party through baseless propaganda at the behest of their masters.