EC decision triggers protests in Sindh

The Election Commission of Pakistan yesterday rejected former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's nomination papers on the remaining two National Assembly seats, triggering a wave of protests from her party workers in various parts of the southern Sindh province.

Hundreds of PPP supporters shouted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf outside the election commission office in Karachi after their leader was declared ineligible to run in the October 10 elections on the reserved seat for women in the National Assembly.

"Benazir is innocent. She will return to Pakistan and end the military rule," they shouted."

Dozens of policemen in combat gear watched protesters as they removed the iron-barricades and burnt tyres outside the election commission office.

Inside the building, dozens of PPP workers smashed chairs after Provincial Election Commissioner Ahmad Ali Halipoto announced that Bhutto cannot run in the elections.

The presence of the candidate is a must when objections are filed against his or her candidature, he said. A little known political activist, Hameeda Qadir, had filed an objection against Bhutto's candidature.

In Larkana, Bhutto's hometown 480 km north of Karachi, similar scenes were witnessed after the election commission rejected her nomination papers for the National Assembly seat 204, witnesses said.

Bhutto supporters shouted anti-government slogans, cursing Musharraf. The election commission disqualified Bhutto saying that convicted people are barred from running in the elections or holding public office.

A court gave Bhutto three-year prison terms in two separate corruption cases for abstaining from its proceedings. Bhutto, who is PPP chief, calls the verdict unjust and says that lawyers represented her in the court.

On Friday, the election commission had rejected Bhutto's nomination papers for the National Assembly seat 207.

Bhutto, who has been living in self-exile since early 1999, has the right to appeal. If the commission rejects her appeal, it would be for the first time in 14 years that she will not be taking part in elections.

The move is seen as a turning point in Pakistan's turbulent politics where big names and families dominate the political scene.

While the pro-government political parties call it a step forward, most politicians say that it will increase polarisation in the country.

Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister and one-time Bhutto's ace rival, announced the withdrawal of his candidature on Saturday as a mark of protest against the rejection of her nomination papers.

Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has vowed to keep both Bhutto and Sharif out of the future democratic setup because of their involvement in massive corruption and misrule.

Kaiser Bengali, a leading political analyst, said that only the people should have the right to reject politicians, not any military government.

"The government's plan of controlled and regulated democracy will not work. It will only add to the problems. The best thing is that the army return to barracks and leave politics for the politicians," he told Gulf News.

Musharraf says that if corrupt politicians are allowed to return the whole purpose of his sweeping political and economic reforms would be defeated.

Munawwar Suhrawardi, a PPP spokesman, said Bhutto supporters staged protests in at least seven to eight neighbourhoods in Karachi, including Lyari - the stronghold of the party.

In interior Sindh province, protests were held in several cities and towns, including Larkana, Jacobabad and Badin, he said.

Earlier yesterday, one of Bhutto's lawyer, Kamal Azfar, asked the election commissioner in Karachi to delay his decision because the former prime minister's lead lawyers had gone to Larkana to plead her case there. But the request was rejected.

The PPP secretary general Raza Rabbani said that the party condemns the rejection of Bhutto's nomination papers.

"The rejection of Bhutto's papers has exposed the hollowness of the regime's claims that the elections will be held in a fair and free manner," he said.

"How can the elections be fair when the head of the country's largest political party and the twice elected prime minister of the country is not being allowed to take part in the elections," he asked?

"The desperation of the regime in seeking to disqualify Bhutto from elections only shows that it has feet of clay."

"The PPP wishes to reiterate that it is not deterred and will fight out both on the legal and political fronts against tyranny and dictatorship," he said.

"It's a criminal conspiracy of the military government to keep Benazir Bhutto away from the people," said Nisar Khuhro, the PPP's president in Sindh province.