PPP to challenge rejection of Benazir's papers

Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) vowed yesterday to challenge the rejection of the two-time former premier's nomination for candidacy in October's polls saying it was a setback for democracy.

"We are surprised and disappointed," Bhutto's spokesman Farhatullah Babar said after an election official in her southern home district of Larkana rejected the application on the grounds she had been convicted of absconding.

Bhutto was convicted this year of absconding after failing to appear in two separate graft trials. President Pervez Musharraf has promised to jail her if she returns to Pakistan.

Election official Akhlaq Hussain Larak told a packed court in Ratto Dero town near Larkana that Bhutto was ineligible to contest the election.

"She has been convicted by the anti-graft court (of absconding). Therefore, she is not qualified to contest the elections," he said.

Hundreds of Bhutto supporters who had gathered outside the court reacted angrily to the decision, chanting slogans against General Musharraf, witnesses said.

"We reject Musharraf, go Musharraf, go. We welcome Benazir, Benazir is our prime minister," they chanted.

The Pakistan Muslim League party (PML-N) of Bhutto's political rival Nawaz Sharif also threw its support behind her.

In Karachi, the PPP secretary general Raza Rabbani said the disqualification of Bhutto would go down in Pakistan's history as one of the "blackest day." "It is a blow to the liberal, democratic forces. It has become clear today that the October 10 elections would be a farce," he said at a news conference.

"We will use all legal and constitutional means to fight against this decision," he added.

Qaim Ali Shah, a senior PPP leader, said that Sharif was convicted on a substantive charge, but still his nomination papers sailed through the scrutiny.

"But Benazir was convicted on a flimsy charge of abstaining from court proceedings" which itself is newly-enacted controversial law to keep her out of politics, he said.

Munawwar Suhrawardi, a PPP spokesman, said that the military government's discriminatory polices is threatening Pakistan's unity. "Why such discrimination between Larkana and Lahore?" he said.

The PPP says that its leadership, which hails from smaller Sindh province, has been made the target of discrimination compared to Sharif and his family, who belongs to Punjab, Pakistan's biggest province.

PPP secretary general Rabbani said that the government enacted a series of Bhutto specific laws to keep her out of politics.

In Lyari, the stronghold of Bhuttos in southern Karachi, the mood was sombre and people discussed their leader's future on streets, roadside teashops and restaurants.

"This is pre-poll rigging," Waja Karim Dad, a former PPP lawmaker from Lyari, told Gulf News. "It seems that the government has made a deal with Nawaz Sharif and his family, but our leader is being pushed against the wall. It will only create hatred," he said.

Bhutto often says that politicians belonging to the smaller provinces, especially Sindh, face discrimination, while those from the Punjab province are given concessions by the military and civil establishment.

Aslam Sumo, a trade union leader, said the government has struck a deal with Sharif's family. "But everybody knows that Benazir won't make any deal," he said.

Arif Baloch, a longtime PPP supporter in Lyari, said the PPP won't bow before the establishment.
"We will fight and show to the world on October 10 that collaborators and lackeys of military-government do not enjoy the support of the masses."