By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : Pakistan’s opposition parties accused President Pervez Musharraf of planning to rig the upcoming polls as the Election Commission said Tuesday it was difficult to conduct vote as scheduled Jan 8 due to the unrest following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
An official of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) citing the raging violence in the country hinted at the postponement of the elections.
“In such a situation, it seems difficult to make arrangements for the polls as scheduled,” Election Commission Secretary Kanwar M. Dilshad told reporters after a commission meeting to decide about the elections date. Dilshad said that several ECP offices have been damaged in various cities.
The final decision about the poll dates would be announced Wednesday after a meeting with leaders of Pakistan’s political parties, Dilshad said. “We have started contacting the political parties.”
On Monday, the ECP said it would decide Tuesday whether to hold the elections as scheduled or delay them in view of the widespread violence after the murder of Bhutto Dec 27.
Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and other major opposition groups want the polls be held on time.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, headed by Bhutto’s arch rival and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, sided with pro-election parties, saying as a gesture of solidarity with the slain Bhutto it backed the PPP call for the elections to be held Jan 8 as earlier scheduled.
The opposition parties accused Musharraf and his parties allied to him of trying to buy time to rig the polls.
“The postponement of the elections is an excuse to buy time for Gen. (retd) Musharraf and his cohorts to come up with means to rig polls to turn the results in their favour,” the PPP said in a statement.
The PPP statement said the pro-Musharraf party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, had hit “rock bottom” in the wake of Bhutto’s assassination.
“When the party that has lost its leader and is in mourning itself is demanding that the polls be held on time, then what business does the regime have to delay polls?”
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of Nawaz Sharif said “Musharraf’s cronies want to delay the polls to rig them to the extent to ensure their victory in the elections”.
“When all parties, except the Musharraf and co, want polls as scheduled, why the Election Commission is looking at excuses to delay the polls?” PML-N’s spokesman Ahsan Iqbal asked.
“So far no one from the ECP has contacted us to seek opinion on polls’ delay,” Iqbal told IANS.
A senior ECP official, meanwhile, said holding the elections on scheduled date was impossible.
“We don’t think that it would be possible for the commission to hold elections on Jan 8. We have received very negative reports from many parts of the country,” the official, pleading anonymity, told IANS.
The ECP had asked its district officials for reports on the losses suffered as protestors set more than 40 ECP offices on fire following Bhutto’s assassination. The agitating protestors also burnt election material and destroyed records in many parts of the country, particularly in Bhutto’s home province Sindh, ECP officials said.
Another likely reason for the delay in the polls is the start Jan 10 of the Islamic month of Muharram, during which Shia Muslims mourn the death of Imam Hussian, Prophet Mohammed’s grandson.
“We believe that we need at least 10 days but due to Muharram, we’ll have to delay the polls for four to five weeks,” the official said.
ECP Secretary Dilshad said the provincial governments have been asked to report on the security situation following the unrest and all have recommended the month of Muharram be taken into consideration before deciding on poll dates.