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Musharraf warns against agitation during poll process

Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said no one would be allowed to disrupt the general election and that “agitation in the name of politics” would not be tolerated during the poll process.

At a meeting of Governors and caretaker Chief Ministers of the four provinces, Gen. Musharraf directed them to take steps to ensure that the people could “fully participate in elections and cast their vote for whichever political party they preferred.” His comments came amid efforts by the former Premier, Nawaz Sharif, to drum up support for a call given by the opposition All Parties Democratic Movement to boycott the January 8 parliamentary polls.

Mr. Sharif plans to meet his rival and the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, next week to convince her to join the boycott. General Musharraf was quoted by state-run APP news agency as saying “agitation in the name of politics must not be tolerated so that the Pakistani nation is facilitated to fully participate in elections and cast their vote for whichever political party they preferred.” He said three issues were important and required the full and undiluted attention of the Governors and Chief Ministers.

“First and foremost among them was fair, free and transparent elections and the second was the maintenance of law and order to facilitate the holding of free, fair and transparent elections,” he said.

Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Sharif will meet early next week to discuss whether or not to boycott the election, said party officials on Saturday.

Ms. Bhutto has said her Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) will participate in the election scheduled for January 8 under protest but Mr. Sharif has said the polls would be meaningless unless the judiciary is restored to its pre-emergency rule status.

Gen. Musharraf, who this week relinquished his military role to become a civilian leader, declared Emergency rule on November 3.

He removed judges perceived to be hostile to him after the imposition of Emergency rule and installed hand-picked judges who endorsed his October 6 re-election by the Assemblies and also validated all extra-constitutional actions.

The deposed judges including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remain under virtual house arrest, though authorities deny their movements are restricted.

Gen. Musharraf, sworn in for a second term as President on Thursday, bowed to intense international pressure and said he would lift Emergency rule by December 16. He said he wanted to make the elections free and fair.

The country’s main religious alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, is also divided over the boycott issue, particularly its two major components Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.

JUI head Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a hardliner and former opposition leader in Parliament, says a boycott would be a blunder.

The head of JI, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, however, strongly supports a boycott, which is also the rallying call of cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan.— Agencies

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