By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : An opposition alliance in Pakistan Sunday said all their members will resign from the national and provincial assemblies if President Pervez Musharraf filed his nomination papers to get elected from the present assemblies.
Addressing a press conference here after lengthy discussions, the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) leaders said they had decided in principle to resign from the assemblies if the president tried to get himself elected in uniform and from the present assemblies.
The APDM, formed in London in July during the All Parties Conference called by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, includes more than 30 political parties. However, the Pakistan People’s Party (PP) of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has opted to stay out of the newly formed alliance.
It was not clear how many parliamentarians and members of provincial assemblies belong to APDM but the grouping was confident that the number was enough to make the elections controversial.
Those who addressed the press conference included leaders of the Mutahida Majlis-s-Amal (MMA), Imran Khan of Tehrik-e-Insaaf, Raja Zafarul Haq of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Mahmood Khan Achakzai of PKMAP and Asfandyar Khan of Awami National Party.
“We’ll go to courts, we’ll go to public and would make every effort to block President Pervez Musharraf’s way to get re-elected for another five years,” Raja Zafarul Haq announced at the outset of the press meet.
He said they would launch a public campaign Sep 21 against Musharraf’s election.
The APDM leaders also demanded re-constitution of the Election Commission, which had amended the rules for presidential elections to pave the way for Musharraf’s re-election for five more years.
The opposition said the move had made the poll panel controversial, biased and partial.
“The amendment of rules shows that the Election Commission has become a party and partial… These rules have been amended just to favour the president,” said Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a senior MMA leader.
He said the meeting had unanimously rejected the amendments and demanded reconstitution of the Election Commission as it had lost its impartial posture.
Election Commission secretary Kanwar M. Dilshad Sunday confirmed to IANS that the rules for the president’s elections were amended and a notification in this regard was issued Sep 10.
He said that the full text of the amended rules would be released Monday.
PPP leader Babar Awan, a lawyer by profession, said that the Election Commission had no authority to amend the rules and the move was in violation of the constitution.
“This is illegal and can be challenged in the Supreme Court,” Awan told IANS.
He said that his party would consider the future course of action once the details of the amendments were made public.