By IANS
New Delhi : The election verdict in Pakistan is likely to have a beneficial impact in the subcontinent and provide an appropriate setting for the continuance of the India-Pakistan dialogue, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said Wednesday.
Congratulating the people of Pakistan for their verdict in the elections to the National Assembly, the CPI-M politburo said the result was a “rejection of authoritarian military rule and the reaffirmation of their faith in parliamentary democracy”.
“Equally significant is the verdict against religion-based parties and sectarian politics,” the party said in a statement.
The CPI-M, the leading Left party in India, said the formation of a coalition government based on the popular mandate would augur well for the transition to a “full-fledge democratic system”.
“The elections should have a beneficial impact in the region as a whole. It provides an appropriate setting for the continuance of the Indo-Pakistan dialogue and steps to improve ties between the two countries,” the statement said.
Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf’s Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) finished a distant third in the election, capturing only 38 of the 272 contested seats in the National Assembly.
The Pakistani Peoples Party (PPP), the party of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated Dec 27, won thje most seats, followed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party has won 66 seats.
Both PPP and PML-N are expected to form a coalition government.