ISLAMABAD, June 30: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has taken serious notice of the alleged interference of an intelligence agency in the political affairs of the country and harassment of party candidates for the October general election.
A PPP spokesman, in a statement issued here on Sunday, alleged that some officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were visiting the applicants of party tickets and were trying to stop them from freely contesting the polls.
He said an ISI colonel had contacted PPP candidates in Sahiwal and had asked them to leave the party and join one of five parties — Pakistan Muslim League (QA), Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaaf, Millat Party, Pakistan Awami Tehreek and PPP (Ghinwa) — which, he added, were being promoted by the agency.
According to the spokesman, when the PPP applicants declined to change their loyalties, the colonel asked them to stay in the party, but “change the party leadership”. Gen Zia was the first to give the slogan that PPP without Bhutto was acceptable.
Moreover, he said, the colonel had asked the party applicants to provide him with their “full bio-data”.
An ISI major was said to have been sent to Bahawalnagar to pressurise the party candidates. He asked them to provide him with their resumes and four photographs and change their loyalties.
In Faisalabad, an Intelligence Bureau official was deputed to approach the PPP ticket-holders.
He asked them to change their loyalties, but the candidates showed courage, integrity and honesty of purpose and rejected his offer.
In Vehari, the ISI official visited the PPP ticket applicants and made attempts to persuade them to desert the party. The official, however, failed in his mission.
According to the spokesman, in Khairpur, another official of the agency threatened PPP workers during the recent referendum.
In Jacobabad, agency officials accompanied the Sindh administration officials to threaten the party candidates.
There are many other incidents of ISI and other agencies’ interference in the local bodies elections, the referendum and the making and breaking of political parties.
He said the job of the armed forces was to defend the country, calling upon the army high command to stop the agency from interfering in the democratic process.
He added that “the repeated army interference led to the humiliating debacle of Kargil, the transformation of Afghanistan’s strategic depth into strategic threat, the massing of Indian forces on our borders and the secret deal on Kashmir about which the nation is still to be taken into confidence. The neglect of internal security led to the incidence of suicide bombings in the country as well as the attacks on mosques, doctors and minorities.”
He said the party applicants showed courage and refused to bow before the illegal demands of the military officials.
The PPP called upon the armed forces to maintain its impartiality, saying that it considered the armed forces a part of the society.
The spokesman called upon the election commission, international community, superior judiciary, human rights groups, intellectuals and the free press to take note of the interference by military officials and to raise their voice against what they called “pre-election rigging”.
The party called for a full inquiry into the actions of the ISI officials, and reaffirmed its belief that the ills of the country could be cured once civilian supremacy was restored.
“This is not the job for which the ISI was formed or the army officials recruited or paid for by the state and the poor citizens”, the spokesman said.