LODNON, Aug 31: One of the leading London-based papers the Independent has criticized the Pakistan government for rejecting the PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s nomination papers from Larkana constituency.

The paper in its Saturday’s edition writes, “to pass a law which just so happens to disqualify your principal opponent from running for election is hardly the action of a ruler committed to democracy”.

The independent says, “the democratic credentials of Pervez Musharraf, as he prepares for Pakistan’s elections on Oct 10, are therefore deeply suspected”.

The paper describes Benazir Bhutto as “one of Pakistan’s most popular post-independence leaders, she was not a particularly successful leader of the country either in 1988-90 or in 1993-96, saying that she still has a following.

But in an interesting twist the paper praises President Musharraf’s foreign policy and describes him as “an effective leader of his country, abandoning its support for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, taking some action against extremist Muslim terrorists based in Pakistan. It specifically mentions Musharraf’s stand on the recent stand-off between India and Pakistan and lauds him for remaining “calm in the face provocation by the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee”.

But the paper says, “Musharraf will not secure lasting stability for his country or the region unless he oversees a transition to a securely based and genuine democracy. And he cannot do that unless he lets Ms Bhutto run”.