-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 01 February 1997 Saturday 22 Ramazan 1417 MQM will take part in polls: categorical announcement KARACHI, Jan 31: The MQM has announced categorically that "despite the unlawful and state enforced restrictions" imposed on it, the party will take part in the 1997 elections. The announcement was made by Senator Aftab Ahmed Sheikh at an election rally at Burns Road amid a speech he delivered to the crowd, and as it was made the large crowd broke into loud applause. The MQM senator said that the coordination committee of the party had decided after a session lasting almost 9 hours on Friday that the part would participate in the 1997 elections. Mr Sheikh said amid a reasonably fiery speech that a situation similar to the one prior to the 1993 elections was being created by the "same forces" who had done it before. He said that despite this the party had decided to participate in the elections. The senator several times in his address told the audience to keep quiet as he was announcing "something very important". In his speech he implied that the caretaker government's decision to hold both national assembly and provincial assembly elections on the same day was directed actually against the MQM. He said the same forces who had forced the MQM boycott in 1993 were doing the same thing now and were sort of testing the party's resolve. Mr Sheikh said, without naming who or what they were, that these forces wanted to see if the MQM would be forced to make the same decision it did in 1993. However, the major difference was that a boycott this time would mean foregoing both the NA and PA elections while in 1993 it had been confined to just the latter. The senator recounted details of a meeting between a 5-member MQM team (including him and some other senior leaders) and the chief election commissioner (CEC) and the caretaker prime minister. He said the CEC had told the team that the Sindh chief minister and chief secretary were not cooperating with him (the CEC). The MQM coordination committee also announced that the party's candidates in the areas where they were facing problems would now proceed to these areas on Saturday and if anything happened it would be the responsibility of the government. MQM chief Altaf Hussain had not begun his address till the filing of this report. ALTAF: MQM chief Altaf Hussain has hinted that his party may not accept the election results if his candidates and party workers were prevented from canvassing in "no-go areas." Addressing election meetings on Thursday night in Baldia Town and Delhi Colony by phone, Mr Hussain while referring to Baldia Town said the meeting was being held in an area where the worst kind of human rights violations had been committed by the state machinery during the last four and a half years. He said the area had remained under siege for weeks together during the anti-MQM operation launched by the previous government to coerce, arrest and kill MQM activists and party sympathisers. Mr Husain said today's meeting also included Pakhtoons, Balochis, Sindhis and Punjabis which was a manifestation of the MQM's popularity throughout the country. He said MQM candidates were being prevented from carrying on election campaign in areas such as Lines Area, Landhi, Korangi, Shah Faisal Colony and Malir. The MQM chief said fair, free and transparent elections could not be ensured in the presence of restrictions on his party in the shape of "no-go areas." Therefore, he added, it was imperative on the part of the authorities concerned to make arrangement, whereby his party could also take part in the elections freely and without restrictions. He called upon the people to vote for the MQM candidates in the larger interest of the country, adding that their support would eventually rid the country of the exploitative feudal- dominated system. ---------------------------------------- MQM (A) hoping to win 30 provincial assembly and 15 national assembly seats KARACHI - Urban Sindh's major political party, Mohajir Qaumi Movement (A), is hoping to win about 30 provincial assembly and 15 National Assembly seats in February 3 general election. The party, though still threatening to boycott the polls in protest against what it says the policy of confining the party to certain areas even in its stronghold of Karachi, has fielded 57 candidates for Sindh assembly and 28 for National Assembly. It won 28 seats in the Sindh assembly and 13 in National Assembly in 1990 elections and it joined a coalition led by Sindh's late chief minister Jam Sadiq Ali. The 1990-92 period saw the MQM riding high alongside Jam Sadiq Ai in Sindh and with Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in the centre. The coalition continued till late General Asif Nawaz launched an army operation in June 1992. Scanning the political scene from the MQM (A) standpoint, the party is expected to win 10 or 11 National Assembly seats and 20 to 22 provincial assembly seats. It also hopes to capture two National Assembly seats in Hyderabad city, where it also expects all the four seats of the Sindh assembly. The real efforts of the MQM (A) are concentrated for three National Assembly seats, in Sukkur, Nawabshah and Mirpurkhas (NA-151, NA-160 and NA-174), and it is also striving hard to bag the Tando Allahyar-Tando Jam (NA-171) seat. The MQM (A) is channellising its energy on these areas which have sufficiently concentrated population of Urdu-speaking people. For the same reason, the MQM (A) is also hoping to do well in contest in these areas for the Sindh assembly. In Karachi, there is one seat where the contest is a matter of prestige for the MQM (A). It is the constituency of Irfan Khan in Western district where he is facing Benazir Bhutto's interior minister Naseerullah Babar. Much before the November 5 dissolution of the Benazir government by President Farooq Laghar, the MQM (A) had challenged Gen. Babar to prove his popularity in return to his claims of restoring peace in Karachi by contesting elections anywhere in the city. The MQM (A), in reply to Gen. Babar's claims that he fought the war for Pakistan on Karachi's streets, freed its inhabitants from the clutches of terrorists and restored peace in the city, has named him 'the Butcher of Karachi,' a reference to MQM's allegations of large-scale extra-judicial killings. Gen. Babar accepted the challenge and filed his nomination from NA-184 after the dissolution of the assembly. The constituency has a large chunk of Punjabi-and Pashto-speaking voters. If he succeeds in bagging most of these votes, the retired general stands, a chance to cruise into the National Assembly. As the election of Naseerullah Babar is a matter of prestige both for the MQM (A) and the PML (N), both have tried to persuade each other to withdraw their candidates, but the efforts have not succeeded and the constituency presents a triangular fight. The PML (N) has also tried to get the support of the MQM (A) for several seats in the interior of the province, especially in areas where Urdu-speaking people are concentrated. However, the search for Mohajir votes to contain Benazir in her home province proved futile as the MQM (A) entered into a seat-adjustment agreement with Ghanwa Bhutto. It is also supporting Ghanwa's nominee Usman Hingoro from NA-189 which encompasses Lyari, the traditional stronghold of PPP since Z. A. Bhutto days. It has also announced support for PPP Shaheed Bhutto groups candidates in a number of seats in the interior of Sindh. The MQM (A) is yet to come out in favour of any PML (N) candidate anywhere in Sindh. In the given situation, if MQM (A) succeeds in bagging 15 National Assembly and some 30 provincial assembly seats, as it has said it hopes the Sindh scenario is expected to repeat the 1990-92 like situation, although this time with aveteran like Jam Sadiq Ali as partner and then president Ghulam Ishaq's son-in-law Irfan Marwat as an ally. The MQM (A) says that it will from the next Sindh government in collaboration with Ghanwa Bhutto, independents and different factions of the PML. In the house of 100 directly-elected and 10 reserved seats, the MQM (A) will need at least 25 more seats. ---------------------------------------- MQM fears 'mass rigging' The Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) fears "mass rigging" in the Monday's general election at the hands of the break-away Haqiqi faction, but the party high command was still undecided till last evening whether or not to boycott the polls in protest. "Our polling agents may not be allowed to enter the polling stations falling in areas controlled by Haqiqi, much less our voters who are loyal to (the MQM chief in self-exile) Altaf Hussain despite years of oppression at the hands of Haqiqi terrorists," said Shaikh Liaquat Husain, and added the MQM candidates were not being allowed to carry out their campaign and permission was not granted for a telephonic address of Altaf Hussain in Korangi. A candidate for a an NA seat from Landhi, he was himself detained for 14 hours during a shootout that erupted during his recent election campaign in his constituency. The Shaikh is a senior member of the co-ordination committee which runs the party affairs in the absence of Altaf Hussain and other leaders who are in hiding since 1992 when army launched a crackdown in Sindh province. He said the leaders-in-exile including Altaf Hussain had no plans to return in the near future because "their life is threatened by the real rulers who do not wish to see MQM in power," referring to the army which has clashed with MQM activists a number of times in the past. "Only a miracle could create conditions conducive to the return of Altaf Hussain, Dr Imran Farooq, and Saleem Shahzad," he added. When asked if he perceived army as opposing the party or only its chief, he said it was the leadership that army wants to wipe out. "The MQM is a movement and all of us are only following our leader." Replying to a question about a possible gain in votes cast in favour of MQM due to the boycott of Jamaat Islami, and a possible loss at the hands of Imran Khan's Tehrik-e-Insaaf, he said the MQM vote bank could only go up. "We have people joining us from other parties, like I did some years ago, but we don't fear to loose our supporters to any one." The Shaikh was a Muslim League leader till 1992. Confident of a comfortable victory in Karachi and Hyderabad, MQM may seek to trade its electoral gains for securing safe passage for its leaders in hiding. The Shaikh said his party will be ready to consider forming a coalition at the centre and Sindh province with either of the two major parties which respects the MQM manifesto and "restores our usurped rights." MQM has been a coalition partner of both PPP and Muslim League (Nawaz) at different times, and blames both the partners of breaking the partnership agreements and perpetrating violence against its workers. ----------------------------------------------------- Plea to register case against former PM Karachi - Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain has demanded murder cases be instituted against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her colleagues. They were guilty of carrying out extra-judicial killings in Karachi, of maiming and torturing hundreds and hundreds of people, Altaf said and listed former interior minister Naseerullah Babar and an ex-chief minister of Sindh among those responsible for that. Altaf, who addressed election meetings in the city, said the crime committed by these people had been accepted by the Supreme Court. He asked that the president should order registration of cases against them. ---------------------------------------------------------- Experts predict low turnout in Karachi Political observers are predicting a "very low" turnout in polls in Karachi, the industrial capital of the country and a city ravaged by years of violence. Three days before the February 3 elections, there is little excitement in the city which has often set novel trends in electioneering. Except for a few streets which boast of a strong candidate as a resident, there is no evidence the more than 13 million people of this city are gearing up to choose their representatives in the national and provincial governments. Part of the reason for this seemingly austere mood is tough restrictions imposed by the Election Commission. These include ban on the use of conventional means of campaigning - posters, chalking on the walls, street banners, corner meetings and use of loud-speakers. But what is more relevant in the context of Karachi politics is the possibility of a violent flare-up on mundane issues which generally become matters of life and death with the ethnically divided population of the city. The Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), the party most favoured to sweep the elections in the Sindh province, as it has done in the last three polls, has come out strongly against what it terms the "military-backed goons" of the party's Haqiqi faction that controls parts of Karachi. With the election date drawing closer, the friction between the two groups has been on the rise and residents of these areas are justified in expecting trouble on the election day. "This fact alone will keep the people away from polling stations," said an MQM worker. A lawyers and political activist who didn't want to be named, said he expected the turnout to be less than 10 per cent in certain areas. And this prediction conforms to the pattern being established in Karachi. In the West District, the turnout dropped from 43.1 per cent in 1988 to 41.6 in 1990 and a dismal 12.1 in 1993 (figures for constituency NA 185). In Karachi Central, the slide has been even more visible. From 55.4 to 48.6, to 8.8 per cent in the last elections. There is also a general disenchantment with the electoral process, as successive governments have done little to change the lot of a common person struggling to survive the three-pronged attack of runaway inflation, lack of opportunities and corruption in both public and private sectors. A glaring example of the political parties' inability to discern this anger is a television advertisement of Pakistan Peoples Party which counts 'telecommunication revolution' as one of the biggest achievements of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. It never fails to get a good laugh from viewers in Karachi who do not have a single public phone booth or a privately managed public call office in the city. ---------------------------------------- MQM (A)-government tension grows KARACHI - As polls near, tension between Sindh provincial government and the Mohajir Qaumi Movement is mounting and Mumtaz Bhutto's caretaker government has accused Altaf Hussain of trying to blackmail it. The harsh comment came in reply to allegations made by the MQM that terrorists under official patronage, have turned certain city localities into no-go areas, for its candidates and workers. With three days left for the balloting, the MQM (A) is still threatening to boycott the polls on the same issue. The government claims that it has been absolutely neutral in the factional fight of the party and has been extending all lawful facilities to all the contesting parties without any bias or prejudice. It has also denied the existence of no-go areas,' and advised Altaf Hussain that instead of resorting to blackmailing and pressure tactics, he should positively respond to the goodwill gesture of the provincial government which it had made through the release of a number of MQM (A) leaders on parole. ---------------------------------------- Traffic police launch 'extortion drive' KARACHI, Jan 31: As Eid is approaching, the traffic police have launched their annual ritual of extorting money from the drivers of public and private vehicles on the pretext of checking documents. The checking of documents before every Eid has itself become a permanent feature of the Holy month of Ramazan. The range police, which have nothing to do with the traffic laws, also stop vehicles for paper checking. Commenting on the role of the traffic police, Rafiullah, a businessman, said: "It seems that all energies are being used to enforce traffic laws to earn the benefits of the fasting month of Ramazan." He said the traffic cops chose deserted or less visible places to stop vehicles for checking. "Even if the documents are in order, they will find some fault either in the papers or in the vehicle you are riding in. If you are not well-dressed, they will ask you to present some Eidi," he claimed. Arif Ali, a schoolteacher, lashed out at the taxi driver-cum- police mafia for exploiting the commuters. The rickshaw and taxi drivers charged at will rather than on the basis of speed metre, he said. "Rickshaw drivers do not go by the meter. If you ask them to go by the meter they will simply say it is out of order," he added. Asked why did they (traffic police) show their smartness before Eid and check vehicles, a police officer said only for "easy money." Election duty has proved another "boon" for the police. The Suzuki pick-up owners who refuse give money to the policemen their vehicles are being impounded in the name of election duty. Syed Javed Hussain Shah, vice president of the Karachi Suzuki Drivers Union, alleged the police had impounded scores of vehicles of theirs for election duty without payment of advance money. He said the government had yet not paid the transporters their outstanding dues. The police had hired their vehicles in the name of election duty in 1993, but had not paid a single paisa as yet, he added. The Sindh government, he said, should use its own vehicles for the purpose instead of impounding private vehicles. Syed Irshad Hussain of the Karachi Transport Ittehad said if KTI members were not paid in advance, the transporters would go on strike on Feb 4. "In the past, we had a bitter experience. We will not allow the traffic police to impound our vehicles without any payment," he added. ------------------------------------------ US newspaper predicts PML-N return to power CHAK JHUMRA, Jan 31: At an outdoor rally in this farming town this week, thousands of jubilant supporters of Nawaz Sharif tossed firecrackers and chanted his name, thrusting their fists into the air. Then they chanted: "Prime minister! Prime minister!" That is what Sharif was from 1990 until his dismissal in 1993, and that is what he is likely to become again after Monday's parliamentary elections. Analysts estimate that Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League will be the leading vote-getter but will fall short of a majority in the 217-member parliament, forcing it to form a coalition government with regional parties and independents. A return to power by Sharif and his pro-business party would restore business confidence in a struggling economy, but conflicting campaign promises could complicate Pakistan's relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A Muslim League government also might revise Pakistan's relations with the Taliban, the militia that controls three-fourths of neighbouring Afghanistan and that Sharif suggested is a group of "religious fanatics." Outside Pakistan, Sharif, 47, has been known primarily as Benazir Bhutto's nemesis and the man who became prime minister after the nation's political and military establishment forced her out of office in 1990. Benazir had been hailed in much of the world as a crusader for democracy, and Sharif, a former protege of Pakistan's last military dictator, Gen Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq, seemed a throwback to authoritarian times. Sharif and Bhutto, opponents throughout their political careers, differ in other ways. Sharif has urban roots in a family comes from a family of rural landlords in Sindh. Sharif was educated at a college and law school in his home town; Bhutto earned degrees at Harvard and Oxford. As prime minister, Sharif's fortunes rolled up and down. His coalition government, which included Pakistan's largest party of Islamic fundamentalists, pursued economic policies with a free- market orientation and gave a nod toward extending the influence of Islam. But the fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami left the coalition after Sharif supported the United States in the Persian Gulf War and backed a UN plan to install an interim government in Afghanistan. Scandals also undermined Sharif's government. His family's steel company borrowed heavily from the failed Bank of Credit and Commerce International, a Luxembourg-based bank that had branches in Pakistan. Sharif's relatives owned two financial cooperatives that went bust amid allegations of embezzlement, but investigators cleared him and family members. In 1993, Sharif was dismissed by the president, reinstated by the Supreme Court and then forced to resign two months later to avert a military takeover. Since the dismissal last November of Bhutto's second government, Sharif has emerged as the likeliest alternative to his political rival, whose popularity fell amid economic troubles and persistent allegations of corruption by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari. Sharif has built support as a chummy politician from the country's most populous province, a favourite of the business community and a persistent Bhutto critic. His campaign has focused on her government's management of the economy and alleged involvement in corruption. "She looted the country like a conqueror treats a defeated country," Sharif told a roaring crowd beside the railroad station here in Chak Jhumra, a Punjabi town 60 miles west of Lahore. Sharif's plans if elected are not clear. In keeping with the IMF's demand that Pakistan lower its budget deficit, Sharif said he would cut spending "drastically" by reducing the number of government employees, embassies abroad and nondevelopment programs. He also vowed to "lessen corruption." At the same time, he has promised free health care and education, subsidies for taxicabs and new major highways. Sharif has rejected a cut in defence spending, which swallows about 35 per cent of the budget. On Afghanistan, Sharif urged the warring factions to work out an accommodation, but he criticised the Taliban's ban on women attending school and working outside the home. uDawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) Washington Post -------------------------------------------- US sends signal to Pakistan politicians WASHINGTON, Jan 31: The US has sent a clear message to politicians in Pakistan that if they did not put their act together, Washington would be willing to work comfortably with the army, even under a barely concealed military regime, analysts said on Friday. Reviewing the latest US human rights report on Pakistan, they said it recognised that the " troika governs Pakistan," that it stated categorically that the judiciary was not independent, it blasted politicians for their acts of commission and omission and, between the lines, expressed satisfaction that the Benazir government had been dismissed. "It is just good luck that the judgment in the Benazir Bhutto case came before this report. Had it been delayed and this report had appeared before the judgment, Benazir and the Supreme Court would have been put in a difficult situation as many conclusions drawn in the report had a direct bearing on the Benazir case," a diplomat said. The report conveys strong political opinions of the US administration about Pakistan's domestic affairs and in view of the importance Robin Raphel gave to the army chief while ignoring the prime minister during her recent visit, it should become clear that the state department is no longer hooked to a strong commitment for democratic rule in Pakistan, analysts say. The troika was mentioned in the human rights report for 1995 as well and although it is a reality in Pakistan, the analysts are still questioning whether an official government document could recognise it as such without kicking off a diplomatic row. No such row started last year and none is expected this year. The US policy is evident, the analysts say, from the reaction of the state department to the dismissal of the Benazir government and to the formation of the CDNS, when no doubt was left that Washington would not intervene on the side of the politicians unless a blatant and direct military rule was imposed. This US attitude, they say, might have encouraged the Pakistan army and the president to "go for the kill" by formalising the role of the armed forces in politics through the CDNS, specially at a time when the political forces were at their weakest, the government was not being run by genuinely elected representatives and both the leading political parties were under pressure u one facing the music after dismissal and the other being forced to negotiate terms for permission to return to power for a second time. The analysts agree that the politicians themselves are to blame for their plight and the shifting US stand about a totally civilian democratic set-up in Pakistan. "Nawaz Sharif was not much liked by the US in his first tenure because of his views but Benazir was the biggest disappointment as she gradually turned into an autocrat, ignoring all norms of decency and democratic polity in her three years," they maintain. Her husband and his love for things extraordinary, persecution of the opposition, corruption and financial mismanagement convinced the Americans that she had to go, even if the army had to be inducted into a more active and dominant role in politics. While the report on Pakistan is deeply politicised, the State Department has sent another camouflaged message to Islamabad by letting the Indians off the hook in the HRC report on India. " The report on India is shorter in size, very soft and mild, mostly approving, at times apologetic, never offensive and does not mention any excesses of the Indian army during the so-called elections in Jammu and Kashmir," the analysts say. Compared to this, it is blunt in the case of Pakistan and does not spare anyone. However, it praises the army chief in the opening paragraph in these words: "(The) COAS also wields considerable influence on many policy decisions ... Gen Karamat consulted closely with the government but avoided open involvement in governing." --------------------------------------------- PTV plans 40-hour election transmission ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: Pakistan Television has planned a 40-hour election transmission for simultaneous polls to the National and provincial assemblies on Feb 3, starting at 7.00pm. In view of the heavy rush of results for both National and provincial assembly seats, PTV plans to specially produce entertainment programmes for around 10 hours. Data on contestants, including personal sketches, photographs and updates on constituencies, will also be used during result announcement and panel discussion. Commencing at 7.00pm on Feb 3, with a specially prepared Master Till, "The Election City" will be activated at PTV's Islamabad centre, combining its two large studios with a six camera operation. The Election City will house anchorpersons, panels of experts all over the country for both National and provincial assemblies, newscasters, coordinators and computer analysts charting results obtained from the Election Commission and in for analysing trends and voters turnout etc. The entire operation will be geared to sets of beam rotating on 8 hourly basis. An outdoor programmes broadcast unit will be deployed at the office of the Chief Election Commissioner. Subsequent results will be obtained by PTV representatives at the Chief Election Commission office and instantly fed through PTV Computers on the spot, to the Election City studios, where the anchorperson would announce the computer-led results. Each result announced will be posted on the studio scoreboard subsequently, but concurrently, the screen will update the party score/total results so far received. Unlike previous occasions, when all other TV centres were also activated to house provincial experts, it has been decided this time, to skip the ritual and instead invite regional panelists to the Central Election City, for precision. The panelists will be periodically called upon for experts comments as the results abate, and provide an opportunity, for an analysis/discussion. During Intermittent result breaks, PTV will run specially produced short entertainment programmes, for its viewers. Throughout the transmission, short "on the hour" News bulletins will be telecast. As a special feature this time PTV is contemplating to use a video wall to form backdrop for the election ?.. which could be programmed to beam national and provincial assembly score board and on-line picture etc. All results will be computer-fed, to eliminate any chances of error.uAPP ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 02 February 1997 Sunday 23 Ramazan 1417 MQM says pre-poll rigging has begun KARACHI, Feb 1: The MQM said on Saturday that "pre-election rigging" had already begun and that it was doubtful whether the Feb 3 elections would be free or fair. The party's chief spokesman and convener of its coordination committee, Senator Ishtiaq Azhar, said this at a news conference at Karachi Press Club. Several MQM leaders and election candidates were sitting beside Sen Azhar. They included Senator Aftab Ahmed Sheikh, Farooq Sattar, Shoaib Bukhari, Qazi Khalid Ali, Ejaz Mehmood and Sheikh Liaquat Hussain. Mr Azhar said that despite assurances by the Sindh governor and the inspector-general of police, the MQM was not being allowed to campaign freely. He said pre-election rigging had already started. Asked that if this were true who or which party would benefit from it, Mr Azhar said that was up to the journalists to know. The fact that Benazir Bhutto had also recently said that pre-election rigging would occur, Mr Azhar said, it was merely a coincidence that the MQM was now saying the same thing. Mr Azhar said that on Saturday only the party candidates and no party workers went, as decided on Friday, to the so-called 'no-go areas' of Landhi, Malir, Shah Faisal Colony and the Lines Area. Mr Azhar said Sindh governor Kamal Azfar had telephoned him and had told him that he (Mr Azfar) was glad that the MQM was taking part in the elections and that the Sindh government was equally concerned about the security of MQM candidates. Mr Azhar said the governor had said that all candidates would be given police security and escort mobiles would be provided at the time of campaigning but this was not done on Saturday. Mr Azhar said he had also spoken to the principal secretary, Shamsher Ali Khan, and to the military secretary of the President. The senator said that according to the governor written instructions to provide security to MQM candidates had been passed on at the SHO-level. Mr Azhar said that the party's candidates began their campaign visit to the 'no-go areas' at 2.36 pm. They went to Korangi (where a rally in Sector 2 1//2 was also held on Saturday), Landhi, Malir, Shah Faisal Colony and the Lines Area. In Khokhrapar in Malir, Mr Azhar said, the MQM procession was met with some hostility, but everywhere else it was greeted enthusiastically by local residents. Mr Azhar said that in Landhi No 4, "where Afaq Ahmed lives", a senior police official goaded some youths to throw eggs and stones on the cars of the MQM candidates. A BBC journalist, travelling with a BBC reporter and an election observer from Turkey, was also injured in this incident. Hasan Mussana Alvi, a candidate for NA-188 showed to journalists about a 6-inch long cut on the inside of his arm and a purple-coloured cut on his forehead. Mr Azhar said that these had been caused in the altercation in Landhi's No 4 area. Ejaz Mehmood, the NA-192 candidate showed journalists his green Suzuki Margalla car whose two right doors had been bashed in somewhat and two rear windowpanes had smashed. Mr Mehmood said the windowpanes were smashed as a result of firing in the same area of Landhi. Mr Azhar also said that a white Suzuki Jeep with the government registration plates GL-3143 had deliberately rammed and damaged several cars of the MQM candidates who were part of the campaign visit. RALLIES: At an election rally late on Friday night in Pak Colony, MQM chief Altar Hussain said that the caretaker government should arrest and punish all those who were responsible for extra-judicial killings in Karachi. Mr Hussain said the Supreme Court's judgment in the Benazir Bhutto case proved the existence of all such deaths and it was now only logical that those who were responsible should now be punished. The MQM also held an election rally in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on Saturday night in the ground next to the Masjid-e-Baitul Mukkarram. (Mr Hussain had not begun his address till the filing of this report.) ----------------------------------------------------- Liyari - no cakewalk for PPP Pakistan People's Party can field a tree and win any election in the Liyari district. Or so goes the legend. However, for the party's National Assembly candidate in tomorrow's elections, Waja Ahmed Kareem Dad, doing as well as a tree may turn out to be too demanding a task. NA 189 constituency lies in Karachi South I district. It has been considered a stronghold and dependible vote bank for PPP from the time of its inception. The electorate's extra-ordinary loyalty to the late founding chairman of the party, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, has been a cherished asset for the daughter, Benazir Bhutto, who won all three elections from this area held in the last eight years. Even the most popular political movement in the city, MQM, never bothered to put up a candidate against PPP. Such was the invincibility of PPP's hold on this constituency, won by Benazir in 1988 and her husband of dubious reputation, Asif Ali Zardari, in 1990, that only another Bhutto could dare enter into an otherwise futile rivalry. And so it is. Ghinva Bhutto, the widow of the last male heir to Zulfiqar, is now staking claim to her father-in-law's legacy. Her own faction of PPP, Shaheed Bhutto group (PPP-SB), has nominated well-known labour leader and former financier of Benazir's party, Abdul Aziz Memon, to wrestle the prize seat. Adressing a mammoth rally in Liyari recently, Murtaza's widow called upon the Bhutto loyalty of the elctorate to solicit their votes. And the response she received was warm enough to worry Benazir. "His (Z. A. Bhutto's) manifesto was one for labourers and farmers," she told the crowd, "but (his successor) Benazir has failed to redress the problems of Liyari". And few of her listners could argue on this point. Despite giving their whole hearted support to PPP, the people of Liyari have received little compensation from their elected representatives. After helping form three PPP governments, both at centre and in Sindh, this constituency remains one of the poorest and the most backward. Other than playing on the genuine grievances of the people, Memon's campaign has also benefited from MQM support. There is a sizeable population of Mohajirs in NA 189 which though insufficient to elect its own candidate, can help tilt the balance in favour of PPP-SB. PPP only has an eroding loyalty to bank on, and the reputation of its candidate Karim Dad, who, ironically, beat the slain founder of Shaheed Bhutto group, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, in 1993 elections. Now the sympathy for his widow may bring some more of the voters to Ghinva's fold. -------------------------------------------------------- MQM not to boycott elections Karachi - The ghost of Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) has been haunting its two main rivals as far elections in Karachi and Hyderabad cities of Sindh were concerned. Those contesting on the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) or the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) tickets, had been feeling a bit relaxed because of the MQM threat to pull out of the race. But now that the MQM has decided to remain in the field and face the odds, certain amount of disappointment and despondency had begun to surface in the rival camps. The MQM had established its credentials both in l988 and in l990 when it literally had a cakewalk win. In l993, it had stayed away from the contest because of pressure from the establishment to concede some half a dozen seats to MQM Haqiqi, its breakaway faction which had come into being under the patronage of the then government in Sindh. It was subjected to similar pressures and was in two minds whether to face the odds or leave the field. Better sense prevailed and MQM leader Altaf Hussain announced at an election rally in Bahadurabad area of Karachi late on Friday night that the party will contest the elections and asked all his candidates to gear up their campaigning. That has caused disappointment and despondency among the nominees of the PML-N and the PPP, the parties which had shared the seats in Karachi and Hyderabad last time. Sources said MQM had debated the issue at a marathon meeting for 13 hours at their headquarters in Azizabad on Friday and came to the conclusion that a boycott at this stage may cause disappointment among workers. They would feel direction less. Altaf agreed with the majority view. Yesterday morning, a contingent of MQM leaders, including Senators Ishtiaq Azhar and Aftab Sheikh, went to the Landhi suburban colony which had been known as the Haqiqi stronghold and which had been shut for its candidates and workers. Senator Nasreen Jalil, who controlled the MQM electioneering, said the MQM had informed Governor Kamal Azfar about its decision to enter the areas declared as "no-go" by the breakaway faction. The governor assured them of his full cooperation. ---------------------------------------------- Nation goes to polls tomorrow KARACHI, Feb 1: The nation will go to the polls on Monday to elect 217 members for the National Assembly and 460 for all the four provincial assemblies. This would be the fourth general election in a short span of eight years since 1988 polls. The life of every parliament elected from 1988 onwards had been cut short through the use of Article 58 (2) (b) and it could be gauged from the fact that first the Junejo's government that had come in the wake of a party-less election was dismissed on May 29, 1988 by military dictator Zia-ul-Haq; Benazir's government was dismissed on August 6, 1990 by Ghulam Ishaq Khan; Nawaz Sharif's government was dismissed on April 18, 1993 again by Ghulam Ishaq Khan and the recent PPP regime was removed on Nov 5, 1996 by the incumbent president Farooq Leghari. The dissolution of National Assembly on Nov 5, 1996, was the eighth time in Pakistan's history. The two salient features of the Feb 3 polls are that the election for the National and four provincial assemblies are being conducted on the same day and it was for the first time in country's 50 years history that the people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) have been given the right of franchise. There are in all 56,496,773 registered voters in the country as compared to 52,297,568 voters in the 1993 elections. In all 1792 candidates belonging to different political parties are in the run for 207 Muslim seats of the National Assembly while 71 contenders are in the field for the 10 seats reserved for the non-Muslim in the lower house. Besides, a total of 5,914 candidates are in the field for 460 seats of the four provincial assemblies. Altogether there are 700 seats in the NA and four provincial legislatures. They include 217 seats (207 Muslim and 10 non- Muslim), including eight seats reserved for FATA, in the National Assembly; 240 seats in Punjab Assembly; 100 in Sindh Assembly; 80 in the NWFP Assembly and 40 in Balochistan Assembly. Of the total 207 National Assembly seats, there are 115 seats from Punjab; 46 from Sindh; 26 from the NWFP; 11 from Balochistan; eight from FATA and one from the Federal capital. Moreover, there are eight seats reserved for minorities in Punjab Assembly, nine in Sindh Assembly and three each in the NWFP and Balochistan assemblies. The Election Commission has made an elaborate arrangements to hold both the national and provincial assemblies' polls on the same day. With a view to ensuring that the polls are held smoothly and in a free and fair manner, the EC had acquired the help of 250,000 army troops. Each of the polling station would be manned by four troops and a policemen. The Commission has appointed a total of 694 returning officers, besides setting up 36,451 polling stations throughout the country. TIMINGS: Polling will be held between 7 am and 4 pm and shortly after the closing time, counting of votes will begin at the respective polling stations. The concerned returning officers immediately after consolidating the results will display/announce the same before the polling agents of the contestants, besides displaying the same at a prominent place. BALLOT BOX: Since the election for the NA and provincial assemblies are being held on the same day, the EC had allocated green-coloured ballot boxes for casting votes for the national assembly candidates and white colour ballot boxes for the provincial assemblies. Following is the break up of province-wise candidates against 207 Muslim seats in the National Assembly: In all 714 candidates are in the field for 115 seats from Punjab; 481 contenders for 46 seats from Sindh; 178 are fighting for 26 seats from the NWFP and 121 contestants for 11 seats from Balochistan. The number of candidates contesting for the membership of four assemblies along with number of seats reserved in their respective assemblies are as follows: Punjab Assembly: 1872 candidates for 240 seats; Sindh Assembly: 1254 for 100 seats; NWFP Assembly: 636 for 80 seats and Balochistan Assembly: 494 for 40 seats. NA MINORITY SEATS: As far as 10 non-Muslim seats in the National Assembly are concerned there are 71 candidates i.e. 35 from Punjab; 34 from Sindh; and two from Balochistan are in the field. PAs MINORITY SEATS: There are in all 73 candidates for eight non-Muslim seats in Punjab Assembly; 105 for nine non-Muslim seats in Sindh Assembly; 17 for three non-Muslim seats in the NWFP and 20 candidates for three non-Muslim seats in Balochistan. --------------------------------------------------- PML(N), PPP spend Rs70m on TV ads KARACHI, Feb 1: The two leading political parties in the election field, the PML(N) and the PPP, have spent a combined amount of about Rs 70 million, around $1.75 million, on their television campaigns. A senior ad person involved with these campaigns told Dawn that Nawaz Sharif's PML(N) had spent Rs 40 million on its television campaign which lasted around 15 days. Benazir Bhutto's PPP spent around Rs 30 million on its television campaign. Around five days were spent on making the PML(N)'s television ads. Both these parties concentrated their TV ad campaigns around the time of the Khabarnama when advertising rates are the highest. The normal rate for 30 seconds of advertising at this time on Pakistan Television is around Rs 120,000 for 30 seconds. That is only for the first time the ad airs, however, and any repetitions thereafter are charged at a discounted rate. If airtime is bought in bulk, then PTV offers considerable discounts. In the case of both these parties, 80 per cent of the total Rs 70 million spent went straight to PTV while around 20 per cent was spent on production and advertising costs. Both Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto have already spent Rs 1.25 million and Rs 1.7 million on buying extra time for extending the time allotted to them during PTV's 'Election Hour (which incidentally has a scheduled run of 30 and not 60 minutes). According to the electoral laws, the election expense ceiling for a provincial assembly candidate is Rs 600,000 and Rs 1 million for a national assembly candidate. ------------------------------------------------------------- ISI spent Rs140m in 1990 for political purposes,court told ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan was told yesterday by the former chief of army staff, General (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg, that a political cell of the army's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), spent Rs140 million for political purposes in 1990. The court has sought written explanation from General Beg in the matter. The apex court is still holding the centrestage as an air marshal and an army chief, both retired, confront each other in the court, the former accusing the latter of misusing funds of army intelligence for political purposes while he was chief of the army staff in 1990. The Supreme Court had summoned the former army chief, attorney-general of Pakistan and secretary defence in the last hearing. All but secretary defence were present in the court. Gen Beg appeared before a full bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, Justice Bashir Jehangiri and Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid. Gen. Beg's counsel Advocate Akram Sheikh informed the court that he had received the notice in the case only a few days ago and required some time to reply to this. Retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan, who has moved the court through his direct constitutional petition under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution relating to fundamental rights, has prayed before the court for legal proceeding against the army chief on the basis of an affidavit by a retired ISI chief, General Asad Durrani. Gen. Durrani in his affidavit has disclosed that while working under Gen Beg in 1990 as the boss of ISI, he received Rs140 million and funded the same amount to form an anti-Benazir Bhutto political alliance of the defunct Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) then led by Nawaz Sharif. Yesterday, as the court started its hearing, Gen Beg, through his lawyer Mr Sheikh, denied having personally received the above amount but admitted that the receipt and utilisation of the said amount by his ISI boss, Gen Durrani, was very much in his knowledge. Mr Sheikh told the court that the amount was not received by the army chief but by the Inter-Services Intelligence's political section, which, he said, was formed by the prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1975. "It was this political cell of the ISI which received the said amount in 1990 and no amount was received directly by the chief of the army staff," pleaded Mr Sheikh. He also argued that a copy of a letter by Air Marshal Asghar Khan written to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, which was later replaced by the current petition, was also sent to the sitting Chief of Army Staff but he has not taken any notice of it. "The Chief of the Army Staff is the custodian of the discipline of Pakistan Army but even he did not take any notice of the Air Marshal's letter," said Mr Sheikh pleading before the court to ignore the said letter. Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui observed: "But the retired ISI chief, Gen Asad Durrani, through his affidavit has admitted the fact that he received Rs140 million and doled out the amount to various persons." Mr Sheikh maintained that the receipt of money was in the knowledge of his client, Gen Aslam Beg, being the army chief. To this, Justice Irshad directed Mr Sheikh to file a written reply with the court and appear on February 24 for the hearing. Retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan will be assisted by Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Advocate, on legal points. The court took serious notice of the absence of secretary defence and after repeating his summons asked the deputy attorney-general to see if the notice to the secretary was served or not. Three days ago, the caretaker government reconstituted an inquiry commission to probe into the affairs of Habib Bank, including the above transaction made by the ISI through the bank. Meanwhile, Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) is also moving the Supreme Court for becoming a party to the above case, said the central Information Secretary of PTI, Nasim Zehra, at a Press conference here yesterday. --NNI -------------------------------------------- Power tariffs to rise by 25pc, says Burki ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: Prices of natural gas, electricity and petroleum products will be increased by another 25 per cent over the next five months, a top official said in an interview on Saturday. It was vital to link power tariffs with the international market, Shahid Javed Burki, advisor to prime minister on economic affairs told the state-run television, explaining the reasons for the rise. The interim government has already announced a 5.4 per cent increase in electricity rates. After assuming office in November following the dismissal of premier Benazir Bhutto, the caretaker government introduced tight monetary and fiscal measures in line with guidelines from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The reforms drew criticism from various political leaders who said the measures taken by the interim rulers under IMF pressure would tie the hands of the future elected government. Burki said when the caretaker administration took over, Pakistan was on the verge of defaulting on its debts. The caretaker government had improved the country's credit worthiness and put it on the road to economic recovery, Burki claimed. "It is vital for the national economy to reach agreements with the IMF as its stamp guarantees credibility to Pakistan and paves the way for foreign economic deals...," he said. The foreign exchange reserves now stood at around 800 million dollars whereas these were 600 million dollars before the change of government, he said. Burki advised the next government to carefully understand the country's economic problems and avoid giving "any more jerks to the fragile economy." uAFP ---------------------------------------- 03 February 1997 Monday 24 Ramazan 1417 People vote for new assemblies today ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: The nation goes to the polls on Monday. The fourth general election in ten years. The main competitors this time are the Pakistan People's Party, the Pakistan Muslim League and the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf. Country's major religio-political party, the Jamaat-i- Islami, has boycotted the election protesting against non acceptance of its demand for accountability before polls. The main theme of this election has been corruption and accountability. There was no serious debate during the election campaigning on the economy which is in dire straits. The manifestos of the three major parties skirted the serious problem of shrinking resources and galloping needs. For a time when the IMF board was considering Pakistan's application for an augmented standby arrangement, the PPP chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, tried to question the right of the caretakers to enter into any long-term agreement with the Fund. But the other two serious contestants, Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan reacted indifferently to these developments. Nawaz and Imran, however, became very serious for a short time over non-issues like each others romantic escapades. But sanity prevailed quickly and both Sita White and Dilshad disappeared from the newspaper columns without doing much damage to the process of election. The decision of Musarrat Shaheen to enter the election fray introduced an element of colour into the otherwise lacklustre contest. Of all the persons, she dared to challenge the powerful JUI Maulana Fazlur Rehman in his hometown. Going by the seeming trends as reflected in newspaper columns and the fact that the PPP was an ousted and condemned party, while the TIP was too young and too inexperienced to make any dent in the vote banks of the two leading parties, it is being predicted by various analysts that the PML will out-vote its immediate rivals at the polls. But nobody is prepared to give the PML more than 80 seats while the party itself is claiming it would capture more than 100 seats. Most analysts are giving the PPP between 45 to 70 seats and are also predicting that it will not be able to form government even in Sindh. Imran and Ghinwa are expected to win no more than one or two seats. However, the way Benazir Bhutto had conducted herself throughout the campaigning and the fight she had put up indicates that Nawaz would not have an easy passage. She has succeeded in taking her party from the depths in which it had found itself on Nov 5, to a point where many think she might give a surprise to the pundits predicting a serious set back to her party in the elections. The PML of Nawaz Sharif is fielding the largest number of candidates (177) for the NA seats with the PPP following with 161 candidates and PTI 131 candidates. In 1988 the PPP had polled 38.52 per cent of votes, in 1990 the PDA alliance received 36.83 per cent while the IJI alliance polled 30.16 in 1988 and in 1990 37.37 per cent. In the last elections, the PDF had polled nearly 40 per cent of votes while the PML received 36 per cent votes. Since corruption was quoted as one of the main reasons for the dismissal of the previous government, the constitutional tenure of three months to the elections were spent by the caretaker government in making election and accountability laws stiffer so as to render it difficult for the corrupt to return to the assemblies. These laws which were introduced in the shape of ordinances from time to time, even upto the day before elections had a sobering effect on the hustle and bustle of the electioneering and as a result the usual level of public participation in the election activity appeared missing all through the 90 days. The month of Ramazan which overtook the run up to the polling day also had a dampening impact on the election activity. The turnout this time is, therefore, expected to be lower than the 40 per cent recorded in 1993 elections. However, the active electioneering which the third serious contestant, the PTI had conducted and the massive crowds which Imran Khan's election meetings had drawn indicate that after all the turn out would not be as low as is being predicted by many pundits. There are an estimated 55 million registered voters in the country. Two and a half million more than those registered at the time of October 1993 election. The contest is for 217 national assembly seats, including eight seats in the federally-administered tribal areas and 10 seats for minorities. In all 1,863 candidates are contesting for these seats. For the 115 Punjab seats, there are 749 candidates, for the 46 Sindh seats, there are 515 candidates, for 26 NWFP seats there are 178 candidates, for the 11 Balochistan seats there are 123 candidates and for the 8 FATA seats there are 298 candidates. For the 483 provincial seats, 4,426 candidates have filed nomination papers, including 215 minority candidates. In the Punjab for the 248 seats, there are 1945 candidates, in Sindh for 109 seats there are 1359 candidates, in NWFP for 83 seats, 653 candidates, in Balochistan for 43 seats there are 469 candidates. ----------------------------------------------------- Benazir denies report of leaving country ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Sunday denied the reports that she would leave Pakistan if she was defeated in Feb 3 polls. She quashed the report of London-based The Sunday Times as,"baseless lies and part of malicious disinformation," that said that she would resettle in Britain if she lost the polls. "I belong to the soil of Pakistan and my father, brothers alongwith hundreds of PP workers have sacrificed their blood for this country," she said in a press statement issued from Karachi on Sunday. "The question of leaving Pakistan simply does not arise." Bhutto said her whole family had sacrificed for Pakistan and democracy and there was absolutely no truth in this story. She said she had spent whole of her life for the well-being of the nation and would continue her struggle for the rights of the people of Pakistan. She said such reports were spread deliberately to create confusion in the nation. "It is not for the first time that baseless and malicious rumours are being spread against the Bhutto family." Even during her government, the former Prime Minister said, hidden hands were feeding malicious stories to the press that she was either selling her Karachi house or that she had accepted the office of secretary general in the United Nations. "These stories were first spread to destabilise the elected government and are now meant to damage People's Party popularity in the forthcoming elections." She also took exception to the recent so-called opinion polls and election surveys and said these were, one of the many examples of disinformation. "In any free and fair elections the people of Pakistan have always voted for me and this time once again they will display their solidarity with Bhutto family by voting for People's Party," she hoped.uAPP ------------------------------------------- SC takes scripts, tapes into possession ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: The Supreme Court on Sunday took possession of hundreds of audio tapes, scripts and other relevant material regarding telephone taping by the Intelligence Bureau(IB) during Benazir Bhutto government. The three-member bench,seized of telephone tapping case,refused to adjourn the case even for a week and provided only three hours to respondents, Major(retd)Masood Sharif, former IB chief, and Major(retd)Mohammed Sharif, to meet their lawyers in the Supreme Court premises. The case would again be taken up on Feb 4. The bench consisted of Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, Justice Bashir Jehangiri and Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid. The court after short hearing of the case directed the court's Additional Registrar, Mohammed Amin Farooqi,to take into possession all the tapes, scripts and relevant material regarding telephone tapping. The court has taken suo moto notice after the statement of former IB chief in dissolution of assemblies case, that he, at his own, had ordered the taping of telephones of important functionaries (sans judges) in "greater national interest". It had ordered the production of former IB chief and joint director of IB. Both the imprisoned officials were brought in the court in police custody. The court inquired from the former IB chief if he had given the statement in the dissolution case that he had taped the telephones of the important officials (sans judges). The former IB chief stood by his statement. "I had made the statement voluntarily", he he said. The court,which was packed to its capacity with the IB and other secret agencies' officials, inquired from the deputy director technical,I.B.Sadiq Malik,about the exact number of audio tapes. The IB official replied :" Lot many." Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid asked him to be specific as the expression "lot many" was vague. The IB official said that it would be around 700 to 800 audio cassettes and their scripts. Advocate AKA Samdani, counsel for the former joint director of IB Maj(retd) Shabir, requested the court not to make any one scapegoat as the practice of telephone tapping was going on unabetted since long. Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui observed that the court would decide this matter once for all. Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid inquired if the respondents were doing this act at their own or were under instructions from some VIP. No answer was given to this querry. When the counsel for the respondents requested for at least few weeks time to submit their written reply, the court declined to grant more time and announced to take up the case on Feb 4. The court provided three hours time to the respondents to give instructions to their lawyers in the SC building. The court announced that if the statement were not filed within one day, the statements of the respondents would be recorded in the open court on Tuesday. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Poll results on television PAKISTAN's election results can be viewed on PTV2, the Pakistani satellite channel, from 7.20pm this evening. Zee TV will also be broadcasting a five-minute update on the Pakistan national election every hour, beginning this evening. The election telecast will begin with an introduction of anchor-persons who will be announcing the results as they are received from polling stations throughout the night. Result compilation at the Election Commission and PTV's pattern of result announcements will also be outlined during the introductory programme. Naeem Bokhari, Aaliya Rasheed, Naveed Shehzad, Mustansar Hussain Tarrar, Ibtehaj Khurram and Quratul Ain Ali will be taking turns anchoring the live transmission. Brief reviews and analyses of election results by panelists will also be telecast throughout the election transmission. The first of these will be broadcast tonight at 9.30pm, followed by one at 12.15am and another at 4am in the early hours of tomorrow morning. In order to keep viewers awake in between result announcements, several entertainment programmes have also been especially prepared for the election transmission. A play by Anwar Maqsood, called Hisaab '97, will be telecast during the night. The play is divided into 15-minute episodes and stars Bushra Ansari, Azra Sherwani, Yar Mohammad and Ayaz Khan. Fans of the renowned satirist should expect the production to be characterised by his trademark tongue-in-cheek humour. Several satirical skits have also been prepared for the special transmission. Among these is Collection '97 Anday Tamater performed by Farooq Qaiser's team of puppets. The inimitable duo of Anwar Maqsood and Moin Akhtar will perform in Mulaqaat Lota in which the former will be interviewing mock candidates - all played by the latter - whose political careers have been distinguished by frequent switching of loyalties. Fresh Conference is another comedy show with a Press conference featuring a milkman, greengrocer, butcher, primary schoolteacher etc. In Election Street several of the country's comedians will portray various popular characters they have been identified with over the years. The humourous poetry of renowned Pakistani poets will be featured in Qata Kalam. Performances of deceased musicians and artistes will also be aired throughout the night in the programme titled Sunehray Log. These artistes will also amuse viewers by acting out how election candidates make exaggerated claims and false promises in order to garner votes. --------------------------------------------------------------------- PPP, PML, TI should be disqualified: Qazi LAHORE -Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Qazi Husain Ahmed says that the main political parties, Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League, Tehrik-i-Insaaf stand disqualified from contesting today's elections because in his words they have violated the election laws and transgressed the expenditure limit set by the Election Commission. Qazi Husain, whose party is boycotting the election and is making all possible efforts to keep the voters away from the polling both, said at a news conference at the party's headquarters in Mansoora yesterday that Mian Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan and Benazir Bhutto had used helicopters for their election campaign and had also sponsored advertisement campaign on the electronic media. The money spent on these two counts, he alleged, was far more than allowed by the Election Commission and thus these parties had 'incurred disqualification.' Also, he alleged, these parties had flouted election rules by impounding public and private vehicles to take their voters to polling stations today. The setting up of hoardings of various leaders and wall-chalking by a number of candidates were also against the election laws, he said He urged the chief election commissioner to disqualify the three parties from taking part in the elections. He said the Jamaat would move courts if the Election Commission failed to Discharge its obligations." The Jamaat Amir appealed to the people to reject the system based on exploitation by abstaining from the elections. In the 1993 elections, many Jamaat supporters had revolted against the party which had contested from the platform of the Pakistan Islamic front (PIF) and had cast their votes for Mian Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League which, they thought, was the only party to capable of blocking the PPP's way to power. This time, Mr Sharif has appealed to Jamaat voters to vote for the PML instead of sitting idly on the day of elections. The Jamaat voters' abstention would benefit the PPP and no patriotic person would like to support the party which had thrown the country to the verge of ruination, Mr Sharif said. Qazi Husain Ahmed took a strong exception to Mr Sharif's call to the Jamaat voters and expressed his confidence that no JI voter would take part in the election, leave alone vote in favour of the PML. Qazi Husain alleged that the people taking part in the elections were in fact the ones responsible for the misery Pakistan had been facing for the last 50 years. Such people should certainly be rejected, the Jamaat chief said, adding that abstention from the electoral process was the best way to shatter the dreams of such people. The Jamaat-i-Islami has set up 'accountability camps' outside all polling stations. The JI workers manning these camps would persuade voters not to exercise their franchise, he said. To avert any untoward situation, the government has deployed troops at the polling stations. -------------------------------------------------------- KSE index soars by 63 points KARACHI, Feb 2: The Karachi Stock Exchange 100-share index soared 4.11 per cent or 63.05 points in the pre-election session on strong speculative buying spurred by predictions of Nawaz Sharif's victory in February 3 national elections. Based apparently on opinion polls, a section of leading investors having sympathies with the former prime minister voted him to power even before the actual elections but analysts said the run-up could be deceptive. The 4.11 per cent gain in the index at 1,597.26 was an impressive single-session rise but it is far below the 78.48 points gain when the Benazir government was dismissed on November 5, 1996, or close to another big rise of 64.84 points recorded on February 14, 1996. The speculative support originated from some particular quarters but the massively battered general investors in the last two-year bearish spell stayed away as is reflected in the fall of traded volume at 40 million shares. ------------------------------------------------ CDC aims at replacing manual system ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: The President of Pakistan has promulgated 'The Central Depository Ordinance, 1997' as the present manual system has become antiquated and will not be able to deliver the services required by a modern high volume stock exchange system, which is Pakistan's target. In order to install the new system, the three Stock Exchanges in collaboration with IFC and other financial institutions have formed a company called 'Central Depository Company of Pakistan Ltd' (CDC) under the Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969. The new system being established by the Company will replace the current manual system of physical handling and settlement of shares at the Exchanges. The securities industry in Pakistan will thus be transformed from the manual and laborious set-up to a modern and efficient scripless computer-aided system. The proposed Central Depository will work like a bank for various types of securities that are traded on the Stock Exchanges. All the shares currently held by shareholders/investors will be deposited by them with their respective companies for cancellation and issue of jumbo certificates in the name of the Central Depository Company (CDC) as their nominee. CDC will include such shares in their respective accounts maintained with it either directly or through an authorised depository agent. In this way the CDC will serve as the trustee of investors. When an investor would desire to withdraw his shares to keep them in his own possession, CDC will provide him the facility by asking the company to split the jumbo certificate in the name of the shareholder/investor. For successful operation of the new central depository system, it is imperative to make appropriate legislation for providing legal coverage to the system and adequate safeguards to investors and participants. Such a legislation should not only provide for registration of the securities in the name of the CDC as a nominee for and on behalf of the beneficial owners but the owners of these securities should also get the rights and benefits directly and treated as shareholders in companies for all beneficial purposes. Accordingly, the promulgation of the Central Depository Ordinance, 1997 would recognise that when securities are transferred to the CDC, it shall act as a trustee of the legal title while the beneficial title will remain with the actual owners of these securities.uAPP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mystery shrouds delay in results Special Bureau Report 16:15 PST, 04 Feb 1997 ISLAMABAD, Feb 3: The Election Commission announced the first result at 12:45 AM, a record of sorts because in the previous elections the first results had begun coming in within six hours of polling. Every time the Election Commission was approached by reporters for results the stock answer was: "Wait for some more time". The officials of the Commission also said that since the results of the provincial assemblies were also being compiled, so the delay. It was also for the first time that the reporters were debarred from entering into the "Control Room" of the Election Commission and were asked to sit on the second floor of the ministry of state and frontier region raising questions about the transparency of the election process. President Farooq Leghari visited the Election Commission at about nine O'clock and inspected various arrangements made for announcing the results and expressed his satisfaction over it. The reporters were not even allowed to move around with the President in the Commission which too was some thing totally unexpected and unprecedented. The staff on duty in the Commission was also hostile to media and did not permit any one to even come near the control room. On being questioned, they were told to remain away from the control room and wait for the results of the election on the television. Interestingly the delay in announcing the consolidated results occurred despite the fact that the Election Commission had made arrangements to announce the results of the elections of each polling station on the spot. Everyone expected that the results would start coming after 9.30 because of the low turn out. In all previous elections, at least unofficial results started coming by 10 pm. No plausible explanation was offered either by the Election Commission or any responsible official of the caretaker government as to why newsmen were not allowed to have access to the control room which at time looked more of an office of any security agency than the office which was responsible to facilitate the media. ------------------------------------------------------------ NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLIES PML-N 127 250 PPP 15 35 PTI 0 0 MQM 11 25 ANP 8 25 PPP-SB 1 2 JWP 1 6 PML-J 0 4 BNM-H 0 0 JUI-F 0 5 BNP 3 11 UNA 0 0 IND 14 44 Others 4 4 TOTAL 184/207 411/480 89% results announced so far of 207 Muslim seats --------------------------------------------------------- 11:15 PST, 04 Feb 1997 PML-N sweeps NA elections Nawaz, Benazir, Kunwar Khalid, Jam Yousuf win Khar, Sardar Assef, Maulana Fazl, Ghinwa trail behind By M. Ziauddin and Nasir Malick ISLAMABAD, Feb 3: The Pakistan Muslim League led by Nawaz Sharif is poised to sweep the national and Punjab assemblies in Monday's elections while in the NWFP the PML is neck-and-neck with ANP. In Sindh Benazir Bhutto's People's Party though still remains the single largest with lesser number of seats and in Balochistan the newly formed Balochistan National Movement (BNM) is in the lead. The unofficial results received here from Dawn offices all over the country till our going to press give the PML almost two-third majority in the National Assembly while its nearest rival, the PPP, has been completely routed in all the provinces except in the interior of Sindh. In the urban Sindh the MQM is in the lead. The third force led by Imran Khan of Tehrik-i-Insaf, however, failed to win a single provincial or National Assembly seat. Trends indicate that the PML will be able to form governments at the centre and in the Punjab without the need to enter into an alliance with any other party. In NWFP, the ANP is likely to form the government with the help of independents, if it decides to part ways with the PML. A coalition government led by BNM is also likely to be formed in Balochistan. In Sindh the MQM is likely to form the government with the help of PML. But in case the PML does get enough provincial seats, the PPP would be in a position to form the government with the help of some independents. Interestingly, in both the national and Punjab assemblies, the opposition would be almost non-existent while in NWFP, the PML might sit in the opposition. It is not very clear from the results so far available as to who would sit in the opposition in Sindh and Balochistan. According to unofficial results from Punjab, the PML is far ahead in most of the constituencies both in national and provincial assemblies and is poised for a major victory in the province. The PPP has apparently lost Punjab, a province which had twice helped Bhuttos to bring them in power in 26 years. In 1993 the PPP had won 49 seats from the province against 53 of PML(N). Unofficial results indicated that all the leading PPP figures in Punjab have fallen and the provincial capital of Lahore, already a PML stronghold, has been once again lost by the PPP even without a fight. Dawn correspondents reported after midnight that PML was leading in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Sahiwal, Muzaffargarh, vehari, Jhang, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Kasur, Okara, Gujrat, Mianwali, Khushab, Gujranwala, Dera Ghazi Khan, Attock, Sargodha, Toba Tek Singh and Bahawalpur. The PPP defeat is not confined to National Assembly seats. It is reported to be trailing in most provincial assembly constituencies also. Even where PML (N) did not score, the seats went to independents. Reports pouring in from Punjab said PML(J) chief Hamid Nasir Chattha was far behind his PML (N) rival candidates both in national and provincial assembly seats. The PPP stalwart Ghulam Mustafa Khar is also trailing the PML(N) candidates in both the constituencies from where he is contesting while former PPP finance minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin is also far behind his rival. In Kasur former foreign minister Sardar Asif Ahmad Ali and former chief minister Sardar Arif Nakai's son-in-law were also far behind their rival PML(N) candidates. In Jhang, NA-69 PML(N) candidate Abdia Hussain has almost won against PPP candidate Faisal Saleh Hayat. Similarly PPP candidate Makdoom Ahmad Alam Anwar, who had been returning to the assembly since 1988 is also trailing the PML(N) candidate in his constituency. >From two seats of Rawalpindi, PML(N) candidate Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad has defeated PPP candidate Naheed Khan from NA-38 and Ijazul Haq has defeated PPP candidate Raja Shahid Zafar from NA-39. In the Federal Capital Territory NA-35, PML(N) candidate Zafar Ali Shah, advocate has defeated his rival PPP candidate Nayyer Hussain Bokhari by a huge margin. In Wah (NA-40) PML(N) candidate Chaudhry Nisar Ali is leading against PPP's Sardar Shoaib Mumtaz Khan. In NA-37 Gujar Khan, PML(N) candidate Chaudhry Khursheed is winning against Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. In NA-80 Gujrat-I PPP candidate Ghazanfar Gul was leading till last reports against Chaudhry Mubashar Hussain of PML(N) while former commerce minister Ahmad Mukhtar has lost to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in NA-81 Gujrat-II. Shahid Khaqqan Abbassi is leading in Murree (NA-36) against his rival PML(J) candidate Babar Awan. In NA-41 Attock I the PML(N) candidates Shah Aftab Alam defeated PPP candidate Malik Muhammad Aslam Khan while in NA-42 PML(N) candidate Malik Lal Khan is leading Malik Ata Muhammad of PPP. In NA-45 Jhelum PML(N) candidate Raja Muhammad Afzal Khan won by a big margin from PPP candidate Farrukh Chaudhry. In NA-116 Multan, PML man Sheikh Muhammad Tahir Rasheed of PML(N) won by defeating PPP's Tanvir ul Hasan Gilani. In NA-63 (Faisalabad-7) PML-N candidate Haji Muhammad Akram Ansari defeated Haji Riaz Ahmad Ansari. In NA-119 (Multan-6) PML(N) candidate Syed Javed Ali Shah defeated PPP candidate Malik Ghulam Abbass. SINDH: In Sindh the PPP is apparently enjoying a slightly better position. All the three seats in Larkana have been won by the PPP -- Benazir Bhutto, her mother Nusrat Bhutto and Shabbir Chandio have won these seats. Ghniwa Bhutto, the widow of Murtaza Bhutto, has lost on both her seats - one to Nusrat Bhutto and the other to Shabbir Chandio. In Hyderabad, the MQM has won both the seats - NA 168 and 169 where Tariq Javed and Khalid Mahmood Siddiqui have unofficially been declared successful. Both seats in Sanghar have been clinched by Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) where in NA-181 its candidate Pir Buksh Junejo was leading by 25,000 votes from PPP's Sarfraz Rajar and Jam Mashooq Ali Khan, son of Jam Sadiq Ali, is winning in NA-181 with the support of PML (F) by more than 17,000 votes. NA-164 has been bagged by Begum Nusrat Bhutto defeating Ghinwa Bhutto; NA-165 (Larkana-II) by Shabir Ahmad Chandio by defeating Ghinwa Bhutto; NA-166 by Benazir Bhutto who defeated Farooq Bhutto of PPP(SB); NA-154 Shikarpur-I by Aftab Shaaban Mirani who defeated PPP(SB) candidate Junaid Soomro; NA-155 Shikarpur-II has been bagged by indepndent Ghous Buksh Mahar who polled 54,000 votes against his rival candidate of PML(N) Sardar Wahid Bukhsh Bhayo (PPP); NA-156 Illahi Buksh Soomro who contested independently by defeating Babul Jhakrani of PPP-SB and NA-157 Jacobabad-II has been won by Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani of PPP-SB by defeating Imran Khan Bijrani of PPP. In NA-152 PPP's Ali Muhammad Khan, in NA-161 PPP's Khursheed Ali Shah are leading with a comfortable majority. In NA-142, PPP's Sardar Ali Muhammad Mehr won the seat by securing 54,000 votes against his rival PML(N) candidate Haji Khan Chachar who secured only 9,000 votes. Ghous Ali Shah of PML-N is leading in NA-162 by a margin of 10,000 votes against his rival Asad Ali Shah of PPP. PPP's Makhdoom Amin Faheem is winning with a comfortable majority in NA-167 Hyderabad-1 against Shah Muhammad Shah of PML(N). In NA-154, PPP candidate Aftab Shaaban Mirani is leading against the PML(N) candidate with big majority. In Karachi (NA-186) MQM Kunwar Khalid Younis has been declared elected by the Election Commission. The MQM is also retaining its seats which it had claimed in 1990 general elections, political analysts said. NWFP: According to unofficial results received from our Peshawar Bureau, the PML-ANP have swept the National Assembly elections in the North West Frontier Province sharing between them 15 and 8 seats respectively. One seat (NA-10) has been secured by Shamsur Rehman by defeating former interior minister Aslam Khattak. Polling was postponed on NA-1 due to the death of the other candidate. The PPP could not bag even a single seat from the province. While the ANP swept in Peshawar and Mardan divisions, the PML emerged victorious in rest of the province i.e. Hazara, Malakand, Kohat, and Dera Islamil Khan division. In Dera Ismail Khan, the PML(N) candidate defeated Maulana Fazalur Rehman of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam(F) as well as film star of Pushto-language films, Mussarrat Shaheen. ANP candidates who are leading and their victory is imminent include Arbab Muhammad Jehangir Khan (NA-2); Arbab Saadullah Khan (NA-3); Wali Muhammad Khan (NA-4); Asfandyar Wali Khan (NA-5); Nasimur Rehman (NA-6); Azam Hoti (NA-7); Haji Rehmatullah (NA-8) and Abdul Mateen Khan (NA-23). The PML(N) candidates who are leading with huge margin are Javed Ibrahim Piracha (NA-9) who defeated Iftikhar Gilani, who fought as independent candidate; Sardar Mehtab Khan; Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (NA-12); Gohar Ayub (NA-13); Sardar Muhammad Yousaf (NA-14); Nawaz Khan Alai (NA-16); Maulana Abdul Baqi (NA-17); Umar Farooq (NA-18) who defeated Maulana Fazalur Rehman as well as Imran Khan; Malik Nasir Khan (NA-19); Kabir Khan (NA-20) who defeated Anwar Saifullah Khan; Mian Gul Aurangzeb (NA-21); Shujaat Ali Khan (NA-22); Sahabzada Mohyuddin (NA-24); Inayat Khan (NA-25) and Haji Muhammad Khan (NA-28). Result from NA-15 was not available till late tonight. BALOCHISTAN: Our Staff Correspondent Saleem Shahid reports from Quetta that so far no party has claimed any majority in the National Assembly from the province. However, according to the latest results the PPP has not bagged even a single seat from this province. Jam Yousaf Ali has won by defeating former labour minister Akbar Lasi and PML(N) candidate Sardar Yaqoob Khan won against PPP's Mir baz Khan Khetran from NA-199. In NA-203 (Jafarabad-Naseerabad) caretaker chief minister Zafarullah Jamali's son Mir Fareedullah Khan Jamali, who contested as an independent candidate, scored 8,441 votes against his nearest rival Sadiq Imrani who polled 3,391. Nawab Akbar Bugti of Jamhoori Watan Party who is contesting from NA-202 (Sibi-Dera Bugti, Kohlu and Ziarat) is also leading with a comfortable majority against his rival PMAP candidate Nawab Muhammad Ayaz Khan Jogezai. In NA-207 (Turbat-Panjgur) Balochistan National Party candidate Shakeel Ahmad is also having a comfortable majority against his nearest rival Dr Yaseen Baluch of Balochistan National Movement (Hayee). In NA-197 (Quetta-Chaghi) PML(N) candidate Sardar Atif Ali Sanjrani defeated JUI Senator Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, Mahmood Khan Achakzai and PP man Fateh Muhammad Hasni. JWP candidate Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind is leading in NA-201 (Jhal Magsi-Bolan) against his rival PML (N) candidate Tariq Magsi. Balochistan National Party candidate Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo has defeated BNM (Hayee) candidate Ayub Jattak from NA-205 (Khuzdar-Awaran). In NA-200 Sardar Akhtar Mengal of BNP is leading with a comfortable majority against his opponent Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri. ------------------------------------------------- Pakistan Elections: MQM polling agent killed; Haqiqi's boycotts' polls KARACHI - A polling agent of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (A) became the first casualty of Election '97 here yesterday. According to a party spokesman, Mohammed Hanif, brother of MQM candidate for provincial assembly Mohammad Hussain, died as a result of serious injuries inflicted on him allegedly by rival Haqiqi activists. Police later confirmed the arrest of a Haqiqi activist, Khalid Hussain, for the murder of Hanif. Hanif, the MQM spokesman said, was kidnapped along with three other boys allegedly by Haqiqi workers and subjected to severe torture. Law-enforcement personnel recovered the three boys who were said to be in bad shape. Hanif was found in a critical condition and he later died. In poll-related violence in various parts of the city, two people sustained bullet injuries. They were identified by police as Peeral from Orangi and Yasin from Malir. Apart from the Landhi incident, polling in this sprawling city of over 12 million was by and large peaceful. Voter turnout was low in various constituencies. Tension in Landhi, Malir, Lines Area and Shah Faisal Colony did not come as a surprise in view of intense rivalry between the two MQM factions. In most areas of the city, the fight for majority of the seats appeared to be between the MQM (A) and the PML (N). Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Tehrik-e-Insaaf Pakistan (TIP) were hardly in the race. The PPP and the TIP did not have even their agents at most of the polling booths. Sporadic incidents of firing were reported from Shah Faisal Colony. Minor clashes between PPP and PPP (SB) activists were reported in interior Sindh and voting was suspended in Sakrand in the district of Nawabshah for some time. *Reuter adds: The MQM Haqiqi later announced a boycott of the elections an hour before polls closed. Political sources said the boycott would not make much difference as the Haqiqi was not expected to win any parliamentary seats. Ambulance workers said they had taken two wounded people to hospital from the Korangi area yesterday. At least three people were wounded in violence in District Central overnight. The MQM (A) accused the Haqiqi faction of harassing voters and trying to rig results in certain seats. "Our polling agents were not allowed to enter a number of polling stations in Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, Orangi and Korangi," Kanwar Khalid Younus, an MQM spokesman said. An MQM-Haqiqi spokesman denied the charges and said Haqiqi workers were being prevented from operating in Karachi's district central, a stronghold of the mainstream MQM. Witnesses said parts of districts East and West were tense yesterday as gunmen fired in the air. "In Shah Faisal, there is little election activity and shots and crackers are being fired at regular intervals since the morning despite the presence of the military," a witness said. He said it seemed that control of the area was divided between the mainstream MQM and MQM-Haqiqi. Hundreds of people have died in feuding between rival MQM factions in the past four years. In troubled districts of Karachi, voting began several hours late. "At certain polling stations there were no polling staff, while polling agents of the MQM were absent in many places in Shah Faisal," said an army officer on duty. Elsewhere in the city, polling was peaceful but dull. The turnout appeared to be low, except in Lyari, a traditional stronghold of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP). --------------------------------------- Sharif's party heads for landslide victory in Pakistan ISLAMABAD - With results from a large number of constituencies already in, and counting in most other areas half way through, there are strong indications that the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) of Mian Nawaz Sharif and its allied parties were heading for a landslide victory. Unofficial results from Lahore and some other cities of the Punjab province as well from most areas of the North-West Frontier Province show the PML(N) has swept the polls for both the National Assembly and the NWFP assembly. Its close ally in the NWFP, Awami National Party (ANP), has performed equally well, winning most of the key seats of the national and provincial assemblies. According to Reuters, Benazir's spokesman Munawwar Suharwardy said in Larkana that Benazir had rejected the poll results. He quoted the former premier as telling leaders of her Pakistan People's Party at her home that the outcome of the elections was "engineered". But a Commonwealth observers group led by former Australian premier Sir Malcolm Fraser said the election had been largely free and peaceful. Benazir has called a meeting of the central committee of her party in Islamabad tomorrow to decide whether members who win seats in the polls should sit in the National Assembly, Mr Suharwardy said. Mr Sharif has won from his constituencies with a thumping majority, and so have most of his key aides and party leaders, including Chaudhry Nisar Ali, Gohar Ayub Khan, Ejaz-ul-Haq. Several other leaders of the party were also leading in their respective constituencies. Although it was a bit too early to make such a claim, Mr Sharif's younger brother Shahbaz Sharif declared in Lahore that the PML(N) was winning more than 100 seats in the Punjab province alone. "The results are far better than what we were expecting, and we are certain to form the next government," a PML spokesman said. Reports from the NWFP said the PML(N) candidates had emerged victorious on 14 seats, with its ally ANP bagging seven seats. Results on the four remaining seats were awaited, indicating one of PPP's worst showings in the province. Similar trends were evident in the provincial assembly elections in the Punjab and the NWFP, where the PML and its allies have virtually swept the polls. The predictions for the Punjab were that the PML(N) was winning nearly 80 per cent of the seats, with the PPP trailing far behind. In the NWFP, the PML(N) candidates had already won 27 provincial assembly seats, with the ANP getting another 29 seats. Defying all predictions, the PML(N) also did extremely well in Karachi and some parts of the interior Sindh. Two of its candidates, Haleem Siddiqui and Ejaz Shafi, were leading in what were regarded as the MQM strongholds. Similarly, in the interior of the province the PML(N) provincial president, Ghous Ali Shah, had won his seat, and so had Ghulam Mustaf Jatoi of his own faction of the National People's Party. Benazir, however, won convincingly in both the constituencies from where she was contesting. Her mother Begum Nusrat Bhutto also won her seat, defeating her daughter-in-law and Murtaza Bhutto's widow, Ghanwa, by a wide margin. Although Benazir won her seat without any problem, her party appeared to be heading for one of its worst defeats. However, the worst setback was in store for Imran Khan, the cricketing hero, who was yet to win a seat from nine constituencies where he was contesting. Most of his Tehrik-i-Insaaf candidates have been wiped out from the electoral race. *Agencies add: Mr Sharif said yesterday his party would secure a clear majority to form the next government. He told reporters he would seek cooperation and a "working relationship" with the opposition. He urged Benazir to accept the result. Mr Sharif said: "I will not indulge in politics of confrontration, personal vendetta and revenge." "There are no signs of rigging and Benazir Bhutto should accept the results," he said. Mr Sharif said his party was in sight of a "landslide" victory in the Punjab and in theNWFP. The PML will have a "good showing" in Sindh and win some seats in the fourth province, Balochistan, he said. Mr Sharif said everyone must accept the "verdict of the nation". Referring to fraud accusations made by Benazir, the PML leader said: "The rigging charges do not make sense. She says if she wins elections will be free if she loses elections are not fair. She is a bad loser. She does not show sportsman spirit. She never accepted defeat gracefully." Firecrackers were set off and supporters of Mr Sharif danced in the streets of several cities after his PML claimed victory. The main celebrations were in his stronghold, the Punjab provincial capital of Lahore, but similar festivities were reported in other cities in the province. Mr Sharif said his party's win was by a greater margin than he had expected and spoke confidently of the election results before any official figures were given. Many of Pakistan's 56.5 million eligible voters stayed away from the polls, either because of the fasting month of Ramadan or because they distrust current political leaders. Mr Sharif's party tried to play down indications of a voter revolt, saying the low turnout was due to confusion. Qazi Hussain Ahmad, leader of the religious Jamaat-i-Islami, which boycotted the polls, said voter apathy had vindicated his party's rejection of the "corrupt electoral process". He said he hoped the people would now "stand by Jamaat-i-Islami in bringing about a grand Islamic revolution". Despite apathy almost everywhere else, balloting was greeted enthusiastically in the tribal areas of the NWFP, where voting extended to most adults for the first time. Before, only tribal chiefs could vote. Nine people were killed in election day violence. Five were shot dead when two groups at odds over a land dispute clashed near a polling station in Gujranwala, police said. In the southern city of Karachi, two MQM supporters were killed and three wounded, an MQM spokesman said. Two others were killed in Gujrat in Punjab and Sukkur in Sindh. -------------------------------------------- Benazir says she is not seeking asylum in Britain ISLAMABAD - Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has said the caretaker regime had planted fictitious opinion polls and election surveys to legitimise its rigging in yesterday's polling. In a statement, before leaving for Larkana on Sunday, she categorically refuted all rumours about leaving the country and termed them as "baseless lies and part of malicious disinformation by the caretaker regime against her". "I belong to the soil of Pakistan like my father, brothers along with hundreds of PPP workers. The question of leaving Pakistan simply does not arise," said the People's Party chairperson while responding to a report in The Sunday Times of London. The PPP leader, who alleged that the story was maliciously planted in The Sunday Times by the caretaker government and fed to the country's Press by the official news agency APP, said her whole family and thousands of party workers had sacrificed their lives for Pakistan and democracy. "There is absolutely no truth in these planted stories." She said she was born in Pakistan, spent her whole life for the well-being of the nation and would continue to struggle for the rights of people till the very end. "In any free and fair elections the masses have always voted for her and this time once again they will display their solidarity with Bhutto family by voting for the PPP." According to her, the disinformation was being deliberately spread to create further confusion in the nation. "It is not for the first time that baseless and malicious rumours are being churned out against the Bhutto family. "Even during my government, hidden hands were feeding stories to the Press that she was either selling her Karachi house or that she had accepted the office of secretary-general of the United Nations. "These stories were first spread to destabilise my elected government and now are meant to damage the PPP popularity in today's elections," she said in a message to her party supporters. *Agencies add: "Now my opponents are getting desperate that their tactics have not worked, so they are now trying to feed such stories," she said. "It is very interesting to note how many stories have come in the foreign Press on the eve of this election to try and influence it. Such tactics are not going to work. "There is no truth in these stories at all and the people of Pakistan know me and I know them well," Benazir declared. "During the very worst time I stayed here and I continue to stay here. The fact is my opponents are scared of me because they can't defeat me politically so they are always resorting to dirty tricks. The dirty tricks are not going to work." - Reuter --------------------------------- Ghanwa loses all seats KARACHI - Voters in Sindh have rejected Lebanese-born Ghanwa Bhutto, widow of late Mir Murtaza Bhutto, and former Pakistan cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan in National and provincial assembly elections. Ghanwa Bhutto, chairperson of Pakistan's People's Party (Shaheed Bhutto), lost from both National Assembly constituencies in Larkana as well as the provincial assembly constituency in the same district. Deposed prime minister Benazir Bhutto, as expected, retained her home-town seat in Larkana and was leading in her Hyderabad seat but her sister-in-law, Faryal Talpur, lost the safe seat from Nawabshah. Faryal Talpur, sister of Asif Ali Zardari, was contesting in place of her jailed brother. Imran Khan contesting from Karachi for a National Assembly seat was way behind and other candidates of his Tehrik-i-Insaaf failed to win any National or provincial seat in Sindh, according to unofficial results. Ghanwa lost against her mother-in-law Nusrat Bhutto and Shabbir Chandio in Larkana for National Assembly seats. She lost the provincial assembly seat to former provincial minister Nisar Khuro. Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, the dominant party in Sindh, was facing tough time and has lost the district of Sanghar which has been swept by Pakistan Muslim League (Functional). The PML (F) won both the National Assembly seats and four provincial assembly seats. The notable winner was Jam Mashood Ali, son of late chief minister Jam Sadiq Ali. The results were somewhat delayed and started tickling just before 1am local time. -------------------------------------------- 05 February 1997 Wednesday 26 Ramazan 1417 Discrepency in votes cast and announced baffles HRCP LAHORE, Feb 4: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has pointed out a "notable discrepancy" between the voters turnout observed during polling on Monday and the results given by the Election Commission. The HRCP had organised an election watch in about 100 constituencies all over the country to monitor the process. The HRCP volunteers reported that the polling, to all appearances, ran smoothly and the voting was generally fair and free. "Their (volunteers') reports of the early vote count were also in accord with the results which were finally announced. But there was a notable difference between their estimates of the size of the turnout and that announced by the Election Commission," an interim report on the poll monitoring issued by the HRCP on Tuesday pointed out. The commission claimed that "its figures were in line with the report of 26 per cent to 27 per cent in Punjab and Sindh that President Farooq Leghari said he had received during his visit to the TV's election centre late in the night. "We find the difference hard to understand," it said. The HRCP said the polling process could not "on the surface be faulted, but the period before that was from the point of view of electoral fairness highly flawed". "From the president's proclamation of dissolution through the conduct of the caretaker government and reporting in the media to the proceedings in the courts, the atmosphere in effect remained heavily loaded against one of the principal contestant parties (the PPP). That might not always have been the purpose but there can be no question that these did constitute in the event a strong demolition act," it said. The HRCP said that was wholly avoidable at least in one case u that of the caretaker government. "The assumed feature of such a government u in fact its very justification u is that it be strictly neutral and try to do or say nothing, overt or covert, that could tilt the balance in the pending contest, or even hint that it had a bias. The present caretaker government unfortunately showed a blatant, consistent disregard for its responsibility. "It seems to us important that the incoming government establish a strict framework of operation for the future." The HRCP said: "Considering the massive popular mandate that the new government has come with, it should now demonstrate a corresponding degree of keenness to fulfil the pledges it has made to the people. The HRCP particularly hopes that it will act strongly in the area of human rights, including the rights of women and minorities, and in eliminating the scope of all excesses by law-enforcement authorities against common citizens, political dissidents and persons accused of any offence. Review of the Eighth Amendment, especially the urgency to strike down Article 58(2)(b) of the Constitution, should be a high priority. Election is foremost an instrument of democracy. It is to be hoped that all parties would also respond democratically to the popular mandate now given u and to the responsibility and challenge it imposes all round." ------------------------------------------- MQM wins 12 NA and 28 PA seats KARACHI, Feb 4: The MQM has won 12 national assembly and 28 provincial seats from Sindh in the 1997 general election. In a major development, and probably a mirror of the trend nationwide, the PML-N made inroads into Karachi winning two national assembly seats, NAs 184 and 191, and five provincial assembly seats u PS 73, 86, 89, 90 and 97. Two of these PA seats were won at the cost of the MQM (PS-89 and PS-90) and the other three at the cost of the PPP. The MQM's electoral strongholds of District Central and District East were largely untouched by any of these development except that the number of votes polled for PML-N candidates increased substantially as a percentage of votes polled in 1993. Regarding the MQM's electoral performance the number of votes each MQM winner got in provincial constituencies was noticeably less than in the 1993 election. In fact, in 24 provincial assembly seats in Karachi, the party got a total of 543,624 votes or 22,636 votes per seat this time around compared to 708,187 votes or 29,508 votes per seat it got in the 1993 elections. This is a decrease of over 23 per cent. Ten of the 12 national assembly seats the MQM won were in Karachi, and two in Hyderabad. It won one seat in District South, one in District West, all three in District Central, and all five in Districts East and Malir. The MQM's M.A. Jalil lost NA-191 in District South to the PML-N's Haleem Ahmed Siddiqui (who won the last time) 25,008 votes to 31,414 votes. This seat was won in 1993 by an MQM candidate who had got 61,938 votes. The MQM's Mohammed Irfan Khan lost NA-184 in District West to the PML-N's Mian Ejaz Shafi (who won the last time also) 35,451 votes to 32,668 votes. Former interior minister Naseerullah Babar, who lost his home seat in Nowshera, managed to get 23,512 votes from this constituency and it was expected that he and Mr Shafi would have divided the Punjabi and Pakhtun vote here. Besides, the MQM candidate Irfan Khan had won this seat in 1990 getting over 50,000 votes. The MQM party won 21 seats from Karachi, 4 from Hyderabad, 1 from Sukkur, 1 from Mirpurkhas and 1 seat from Mirpurkhas. The party lost two seats to the PML-N in Karachi's southern district, PS-89 and PS-90, which it had won in 1993. However, these losses were made up when the party won a seat in Sukkur (PS-6) and another in Nawabshah (PS-20) both of which it had not won in 1993. Provincial constituencies PS 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 87, 88, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 99 and 100 were won by the MQM. Examples of the declining turnout of MQM voters and comparatively more support for the PML-N (but not by any mean to make it in a winning situation) can be found even in Districts East and Central. In PS-93 (covering PECHS), the MQM's Wasim Akhtar beat the PML-N's Amir Iqbal by 12,556 votes to 11,252 votes. In 1993 Mr Akhtar had won this seat with 22,441 votes and the PML-N had got 1,223 votes. In PS-92 (also in District East), the MQM's Arif Siddiqui won comfortably beating the PML-N candidate by 22,100 votes to 11,935 votes. In 1993 the MQM had got 35,307 votes while the PML-N had got just 1,023 votes. In District Central differences in votes polled for the MQM ranged between around 10,000 votes for PS 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, and 85 while in PS-84 it was around 5,000 votes. In PS 89 and 90, the seats which the PML-N won, there was almost a reversal of the 1993 results with the PML-N not even being in the picture in 1993 in this constituency. At the national assembly level, in Districts East and Central, despite the so-called Haqiqi threat, the MQM easily won these seats by comfortable margin. However, in each of the District East seats the PML-N candidates averaged around 20,000 votes. The other thing to notice this time, again in keeping with the national pattern, was the significant decline of the PPP vote in Karachi where the former deputy PA speaker Nabil Gabol and ex-provincial minister Lal Bux Bhutto and Khwaja Mohammed Awan were beaten, the first by an MQM candidate and the other two by PML-N candidates. ------------------------------------ Lyari no longer a bastion of PPP KARACHI, Feb 4: The Pakistan People's Party has received its first major setback in its traditional stronghold of Lyari (South-1) where the electoral politics had been dominated by the party since 1970. The results of the Feb 3 election show a further erosion in the vote bank of the party, while the PML-Nawaz has not only strengthened its vote bank but also won a provincial assembly seat. The results also indicate that there was a neck-to-neck fight between the candidates of the PPP and the PML-N only. The other main contestant parties the PPP (SB) and PNP were completely routed. The PPP's Waja Ahmed Karimdad has retained his seat, but only with a narrow margin. He defeated his nearest rival of PML- Nawaz's Mama Yunis Baloch, a popular social worker of the area, in a neck-to-neck fight. The margin of victory was only 338 votes. Waja Ahmed Karimdad secured 23,125 votes and Mama Yunis Baloch got 22,787 votes. Among the provincial assembly seats Farooq Awan of the PML- Nawaz won the PS-86 seat by defeating his nearest rival Abdul Karim Jat of the PPP. Mr Awan secured 7,796 votes while Mr Jat got 7,352 votes. However, the PPP's Abdul Khalique Juma, a former provincial minister, managed to retain his seat with a narrow margin of 294 votes. Mr Juma secured 12,913 votes and his nearest rival of the PML- Nawaz bagged 12,619 votes. Another major setback to the party was the defeat of former deputy speaker of the Sindh Assembly Nabil Gabol who contested from PS-88 in Lyari (South-11) where the party candidate, Iftikhar Husain, was defeated by MQM leader Farooq Sattar in NA- 190. Mr Gabol lost the seat to MQM's Liaquat Ali Qureshi with a wide margin. Mr Qureshi secured 11,747 while Mr Gabol got only 6,913 votes. The results clearly indicate that the performance of the former legislators of the PPP were not up to the expectations of the electorate. There was great resentment against the party's former legislators among the youths. They not only blamed the party leadership for their indifferent attitude towards the problems of their constituencies but also levelled serious charges, the important ones being embezzlement of development funds with the connivance of contractors and bureaucrats and living beyond their means. These youths had always been vocal in criticising the local leadership of the party by holding rallies and they also voiced their grievances through the media. Even the former prime minister faced an embarrassing situation when she addressed two rallies in the area. First, in August last after she inaugurated a water supply scheme for the area. Shortage of water is a very old problem of the area. The second time she faced angry youths when she addressed a rally in Kalri area when she launched her party's election campaign in the city. Apart from the PPP (SB), the nationalists were also routed as the small number of votes PNP leader Yusuf Mustikhan secured shows. He also had the backing of the Awami National Party and of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz. ------------------------------------- A non-PPP government possible in Sindh KARACHI - Pakistan People's Party's unexpected reverses in Sindh, which since the party's birth has been its powerbase, has offered Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Altaf) a more than fair chance to form a coalition government in the province. With a dozen or more results still to be announced, the MQM, as predicted, had won 27 seats and PPP 33 seats. The MQM expected to win a couple more seats to become the second largest party in the provincial legislature. The MQM thus proved that it had virtually retained its vote-bank and the so-called clean-up operation and anti-terrorism campaign launched by the PPP government have failed to make any dent in the party's popularity in urban Sindh. Now it is almost certain that no single party would gain even simple majority, that is 51 seats in the house of 100. The PPP at best could win between 35 and 40 seats and to form the government it would have to count on independents and other smaller parties. The results have ensured that the province would not have a strong government. But after the near-total annihilation of the PPP in the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies of Balochistan, NWFP and Punjab it appears that the party which undoubtedly was the most popular party in the country during the 1970s and 1980s, would find it difficult to win over independents and others to form government. After the PPP and the MQM, the third largest party to emerge from the February 3 poll in Sindh is Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N) which had bagged 14 seats by yesterday evening. The other major gainer is PML (F) with whom PML (N) and MQM had seat adjustments. The three with the help of some independents will easily have a simple majority and will be in a position to form a coalition government. Although the PPP is poised to emerge as the single largest party, winning less than 51 seats, the number needed for simple majority, it may find the going difficult because of some demoralising reverses, like the defeat of former chief minister Syed Abdullah Shah from his home town Dadu. Mr Abdullah Shah lost PS-59 Dadu to late Sindhi nationalist leader G.M. Syed's grandson Syed Jalal Shah Mahmood. The result is considered a major upset. Other prominent PPP loser was former deputy speaker of the provincial assembly, Nabeel Gabol, who lost to MQM's candidate in Karachi. Another shock result was the defeat of new entrant into politics Ghanwa Bhutto from Larkana, a seat which was considered to be the safest bet for Lebanese-born widow of Mir Murtaza Bhutto to win a PA seat. It was the same seat from where her husband became a legislator in 1993 polls. She lost to former PPP provincial minister Nisar Khouro by a big margin. Major factors attributed to PPP's decline in the province were the party's failure to better the lot of the poor masses of the province, taking the Sindhis for granted, and more importantly the party's tarnished image because of general perception that it was involved in large-scale corruption. ------------------------------------- Ex-IB chief says he tapped judges' phones on his own ISLAMABAD, Feb 4: The Supreme Court was informed by the former IB Chief, Masood Sharif, on Tuesday that with the exception of serving military officials, every citizen including the judges of the Supreme Court, were exposed to eavesdropping and telephone tapping by the Intelligence Bureau. Admitting that he had tapped the telephones of the superior court judges, Masood Sharif refused to accept that he was doing so under the instructions of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. "Initiatives for such operations were invariably my own," he said. He admitted that he had ordered "observation" of the superior court judges including the chief justice of Pakistan to gather information about the mischief-mongers who were trying to create wedge between the executive and the judiciary. Recording his statement before the three-member bench of the Supreme Court seized of the telephone tapping case, he said he had ordered the " observation" of certain judges of the superior courts. "There is nothing unusual about it. My predecessors were doing the same thing and my successor will also do the same." He said the Inter Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence were also doing it. He said telephone tapping was always used for intelligence purposes in the modern times. On many occasions, he said, he had resorted to "technical resource" for eavesdropping and wire tapping commonly known as telephone tapping. Masood Sharif stated that all such operations were always ordered by him. He told the court that before he took such a decision he always considered the national interest. Mr Sharif said his operations were in line with the past practice. He said he was fully aware that his authority extended to civilians including the retired officials of the armed forces. Mr Sharif said he had learnt from press reports that his agency was involved in eavesdropping on military officials including the COAS, which was absolutely wrong. He agreed to the statement of Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid that "except serving military officers the entire country was his jurisdiction." He asked the court to lay down the rules for the IB to save this "national institution" which had been taken over by the military agencies at the time of dissolution of the National Assembly. When asked what was the purpose of tapping the telephones of the superior court judges, he said that it all started when the relations of the judiciary and the executive strained and it was his duty to keep the prime minister informed about the latest information. When asked what kind of information he was seeking by tapping the telephones of superior court judges, he said the idea was to identify the mischief-mongers who thrive in such situations. When asked if he was directed by the prime minister to do so, he said it was his own decision to tap the phones of the judges. When questioned whether his department was providing information to any other functionary besides the prime minister, he said that some times the information was provided to the president in "narrative form" and not in "script". He said only those part of information was sent to the prime minister which he thought was useful for her. He said his agency did not resort to indiscriminate tapping of telephones. Justice Aslam Zahid inquired if he was answerable to any one for his "subjective decision" of tapping telephones. Former DG IB said that the practice was the same with the Military Intelligence and ISI. He said that a device which had been recovered from the chamber of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, was recovered on the information of the IB. When the court inquired if he had read the Charter of Duties of IB officers, the former IB chief replied in the affirmative. He admitted that "he might have transgressed". Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui observed that the charter of duties of IB officials didn't authorise them to tap the phones of Supreme Court judges. Masood Sharif stated that to his understanding, he had the authority to tap the telephones of any civilian including the judges. Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui asked him whether he had read the first letter sent to DG IB by the cabinet secretary, in which it was specifically mentioned that no telephone of the judges would be tapped without the prior approval of the prime minister. He told the court that he never sought permission from the prime minister in this regard. When Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui asked him whether he was aware that unauthorised telephone tapping was a criminal offence under the Telegraphic Act, the former director-general of IB said that only unauthorised tapping was a criminal offence and his agency was authorised. When asked to point out the specific provision of the Telegraphic Act under which he was authorised to tap the telephones, he said that he could only recollect that he had requisite authority." My lords it is a reality of life," he told the judges. To another question from the court if he was aware of the fact that some other official of IB was involved in this activity as the prime minister herself had complained of telephone tapping, he said that the prime minister suspected other agencies of tapping her phones and not the IB. The court refused to summon the sitting director-general of IB as demanded by the counsel of Masood Sharif. Earlier, Maj (retd) Mohammed Sharif, joint director of IB, also recorded his statement. He told the court that he did nothing on his own as his role was confined to the execution of the orders passed by the DG IB. ------------------------------------ Prominent winners and losers the following are some of the prominent winners and losers in Pakistan elections yesterday: Winners: Nawaz Sharif, president of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and former prime minister. Benazir Bhutto, chairperson of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and twice the country's prime minister in 1988 and 1993. Nusrat Bhutto, Benazir's mother, former chairperson of the PPP and widow of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, former interior minister and son of renowned politician late Chaudhri Zahoor Ilahi. Ejaz-ul-Haq, son of the late president General Zia-ul-Haq and senior vice-president of PML-N. Gohar Ayub Khan, former speaker of the National Assembly and son of the late president Mohammad Ayub Khan. Arbab Jahangir, former federal minister and also ex-chief minister of NWFP. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, son of former federal minister Khaqan Abbasi, killed in the ammunition blast of 1988. Haleem Siddiqi, ex-MNA from Karachi. Kunwar Khalid Yunus, former MNA from Karachi. Azam Khan Hoti, brother of ANP leader Begum Nasim Wali, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, president of National People's Party and former caretaker prime minister. Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, former federal minister and vice president of PML-N. Ghouse Ali Shah, former defence minister and president Sindh PML-N. Owais Ahmad Leghari, son of President Farooq Leghari. Makhdoom Amin Fahim, former federal minister. Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, son of the late Mahmud Ali Kasuri, an eminent politician. Dr Farooq Sattar, former mayor of Karachi and leader of opposition in the Sindh Assembly. Shoaib Bokhari, ex-deputy leader of opposition in the Sindh Assembly. Chaudhry Nisar Ali, former petroleum minister. Lt.-Gen. Abdul Majeed Malik, former food minister. Aftab Shaban Mirani, former defence minister. Naveed Qamar, former chairman of privatisation commission and ex-finance minister, Pir Aftab Jilani, former federal minister. Begum Abida Hussain, former envoy to the U.S. Jam Mashooq Ali, former minister and son of the late Jam Sadiq Ali. Asfandyar Wali, son of veteran Pathan leader Abdul Wali Khan. Losers: Ghinva Bhutto, widow of the late Mir Murtaza Bhutto and chairperson of the PPP Shaheed Bhutto group, Imran Khan, former cricket hero and president of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf. Naserullah Babar, former interior minister and strongman of the PPP regime. Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, president of Pakistan Democratic Party, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, former Punjab governor and ex-federal minister. Yusuf Reza Gilani, former speaker of National Assembly. Naheed Khan, political secretary to Benazir Bhutto. Faisal Saleh Hayat, former federal minister. Hamid Nassir Chattha, president of PML-J and close Benazir aide. Musarrat Shaheen, film actress. Faryal Talpur, sister of Asif Zardari. Khalid Kharal, former information minister, Arif Nakai, former Punjab chief minister. Sardar Assef Ahmad Ali, former state minister for foreign affairs. Shah Mahmud Qureshi, former minister. Maulana Azam Tariq, chief of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, former commerce minister. Hanif Ramay, former speaker of Punjab Assembly. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. --------------------------------- 400 new legislators face disqualification Lahore - More than 400 newly-elected legislators face disqualification in Pakistan because the caretaker government, headed by Prime Minister Malik Meraj Khalid, has decided to move cases against them in special tribunals to ensure the recovery of bank loans. Authorities will have to hold by-elections in the event of disqualification of newly-elected legislators. The caretaker government will not allow members, who were elected in Monday's elections, to sit in the legislatures (National and Provincial Assemblies) until they clear outstanding utility bills and bank loans. Meraj Khalid yesterday told Gulf News he had ordered concerned authorities to examine election expenses returns filed by successful candidates. "Those found guilty of concealing facts about their assets will be disqualified," Khalid said. The government will not publish the names of the elected members without examining elections expenses' returns. The Pakistan Muslim League, led by Nawaz Sharif, won elections with a big majority against Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of deposed prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The victory of the PML-N will help a lot in improving Pakistan's fragile economy. President Farooq Leghari told reporters on Monday night that he had dissolved National Assembly (Pakistan's lower house) on November 5, 1996 to avoid a major economic crisis. "Pakistan was about to default when I sacked Ms Benazir Bhutto and her cabinet," Leghari said. The caretaker government has prepared a list of 400 members belonging to PPP and PML-N to recover Rs300 million they had not paid to utility departments. Official sources said the majority of the members, belonging to PPP and PML-N, have filed false reports about their moveable and immovable properties. PML-N has won about 200 seats in the 240-member Punjab Assembly. "We will take action even against those who had suffered defeat in the elections if they were proved guilty," a spokesman of the election commission said.Pakistan's bad debts have crossed the figure of Rs140 billion. The caretaker government is optimistic about the recovery of Rs100 billion from thedefaulters during the days ahead. "Nawaz Sharif will have to continue the caretaker government's policies after forming the government," a seniorbanker said adding that Nawaz will implement the interim government's unfinished agenda because "President Leghari has promulgated a number ofordinances to make it necessary for the incoming government to continue Shahid Javed Burki's policies who served in the interim government as an advisor. Burki left for the U.S. two days before the elections. Burki also formed Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) to recover written off loans and bad debts. This corporation has started examining cases of loan defaulters. ---------------------------------- US greets Nawaz WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday congratulated Nawaz Sharif on his electoral victory and pledged to work with him to improve bilateral ties. 'Should he (Sharif) indeed form the next government of Pakistan, the United States government will work with him cooperatively to strengthen our relationship with Pakistan,' State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said. Despite accusations from at least one party of vote-rigging, the State Department said international observers did not notice any significant irregularities. The State Department spokesman asserted that the United Statse has a 'continued interest in strengthening cooperation' with Pakistan to enhance stability in South Asia. ------------------------------ Victory raises KSE to new heights >From Wahab Kazmi KARACHI-Stocks on Tuesday marked a surgeon on all counters as the broader gains were stronger than ever. Out of 300 odds, 215 were plus, against a marginal decline of 15 companies. The general index of share prices went up by 12 points. The blue chips recovered significantly and the KSE-100 index rose to 1650 up by 52.8 points showing the base strength of the market. It was after two and half years that the index has crossed 1650 barrier mark. It always floated between 1400 to 1600 benchmark. The turnover was six months high at 87.8 million shares. This rosy picture has taken a new lease of life and the market has not only taken a leap but it would also sustain the trend. Though it is difficult to say as to how and by what time the market would touch 2500 mark as it had gained in 1993-94 but the brokers say that it would have its upward trend for the next few months, but the brokers and the genuine investors are still showing some kind of doubt, however, the upward gains as they think that things might turn topsy-turvy any time. The news of sweeping victory of PML(N) in the polls has made the investors enthusiastic about the future course of business. The businessmen say that the win of Nawaz Sharif has heralded an era of prosperity for business sector and the state of economy would not be as bad as in time of Benazir Bhutto. She was anti-business during her time no genuine investor like to invest in Pakistan, there were floating funds having little credence, her policies were ad hoc and the mounting corruption forced the real investors to leave the country which felt the financial crunch in all directions. With coming of Nawaz Sharif back into power, it is taken for granted that stock market would also come back with all zeal and fervour. Out of 87 million shares, maximum trading was done in Hub Power as 20 million shares, followed by PTC 18 million shares, Dewan Salman, FFC Jordan, ICI, LTV, were traded in the range of 1 to 14 million each. Hub Power with such hefty trading gained Re 1.80 closing at Rs 43.20; PTC shares Rs 2.10 closing at Rs 36.50; ICI Rs 2.00 closing at Rs 24.50; Bank of Punjab Re 1.75 closing at Rs 31.00 and Askari Bank Re 1.75 closing at Rs 35.00. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 06 February 1997 Thursday 27 Ramazan 1417 MQM's bid to 'correct' image Karachi - Mohajir Qoumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain has offered a "hand of cooperation and friendship" to Pakistan President Farooq Leghari, and all influential organs of the state. He corrected the impression prevailing in certain circles about the MQM and its worker and said "the MQM was a peaceful and democratic party. It had been painted black with a purpose. Its workers were all sincere people, and were interested only in the welfare of the country and his people." The party faced repression for four and a half years, and although it won the elections in 1993, members elected on its tickets for the provincial assembly, were either sent to jails, or were prevented from doing their duties. Now that the MQM had re-asserted itself by winning 12 federal and 28 provincial seats in the polls, held on Monday, Altaf wants the party to be recognised by those in power. "I extend a hand of friendship to the president all the other powerful institutions of the country," he said in an obvious reference to the military which had harboured fixed notions about the MQM. Altaf complained the MQM was deprived of atleast two federal and five provincial seats in the latest of round of elections. The party lost these seats to Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif, but Altaf said that elections for those seats were rigged. Some overtures had been made in the meantime by the PML(N) the party which returned with a massive mandate on Monday in the national and the Punjab assemblies, for cooperation with the MQM in Sindh. MQM controls an overwhelming mandate in the urban areas of the southern province. It returned a tally of 12 seats in the nation and 28 for the Sindh assembly. Naturally, the PML(N) which will form the government next weeks, looks for support from the MQM in running the administration in Sindh also. The Nawaz party has secured 14 of the provincial seats in Sindh, which was a remarkable improvement over its previous performances. Together with the MQM and independents, numbering 10, the Nawaz party can form a comfortable majority of 52 in a 100-strong house. Sources said the PML would be willing to concede even the chief ministership of Sindh to MQM. There are a number of names in consideration for the top slot. These include former minister Liaquat Jatoi, ex-chief minister, Ghous Ali Shah, and even former Mayor Dr Farooq Sattar. Experts however feel it would be difficult for the PML(N) to concede the demand for chief ministership to MQM because of ethnic tensions in Sindh. The locals want that only a Sindhi should be appointed in that office. The MQM can get the Sindh Assembly's speakership and also the governorship of the province. It can also by given certain important ministries. Full-scale parleys between MQM and PML(N) can start after the return of Nawaz Sharif from the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. He left for the Holy land yesterday with his family to perform Umra and for thanksgiving prayers on his resounding success. ----------------------------------------------- PML-N and PPP contact MQM: govt formation KARACHI, Feb 5: As the complete results of the Sindh assembly election became known on Wednesday, MQM leaders said that both the PML-N and the PPP had contacted their party to initiate possible discussion on forming the next government in Sindh. They also said that though the MQM had had a "bitter experience" with both parties in the past, it intended to form the next government in Sindh since this was a necessary part of governance. The PPP has got 36 seats, the MQM 28 and the PML-N won 15 seats in a parliament of 109 (that includes 9 minority seats). Independents won 15 seats, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi's NPP 3 seats, the PPP(SB) 2 and the UNA 1 (Murtaza Bhutto's son Amir Baksh Bhutto). To make the next government in Sindh, the PPP would need the support of another 19 MPAs, the MQM would need the support of 27, and the PML-N would need the support of 40. (At the national assembly level, the MQM, according to the latest results, has got 12 seats compared to the PPP's 18, while the PML-N got 134. And Nawaz Sharif said in Lahore on Wednesday that he would increase his support to 170 seats with the help of his allies.) The MQM's Farooq Sattar, who won both his national assembly and provincial seats, told Dawn that an intermediary of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif had contacted Senator Ishtiaq Azhar who is the party's main spokesman in the absence of Altaf Hussain. He said that the issue of forming the next government in Sindh was a crucial and very critical matter and needed to dealt by all parties on an "urgent" basis. The next contact between the MQM and the PML-N is likely to be a high-level one between Mr Sharif and Mr Hussain who, MQM Senator Nasreen Jalil said, would decided the future course of action and cooperation, if any, between the two parties. She said that anything was possible in politics but the main concern of the MQM was to do something good for those who had voted for it. Senator Jalil told Dawn that the chance of the MQM forming a government with the PPP was "very, very impossible". She said in any case the party's coordination committee was deliberating this issue and it was also before the MQM party chief. Responding to a question Mr Sattar said that the issue of the MQM asking for its nominee as cheif minister in a coalition government with the PML-N did not have too much urgency for the party because it was not interested in "power politics". A senior PPP leader spoke to Ajmal Dehlavi, the latter told the PPI news agency. He was quoted as having said that the PML-(Functional) had contacted the MQM and that details of these had been passed on to the party's coordination committee and to Altaf Hussain. Responding to a similar question Senator Jalil and Mr Sattar (separately) said that the MQM was very much interested in forming the next government. What was important, they said, was that any future coalition partner should accept the 18-point charter of MQM demands, and provide real relief to the party's supporters and activists. They both said that the MQM had had a "bitter" experience with both the PML-N and the PPP in the past saying that Operation Cleanup was started when a PML-N government was in office and intensified after the PPP came into office. Mr Sattar and Ms Jalil said that even after the elections had happened the problem of 'no-go' areas was still very much there and people living in many of these areas who had supported the MQM's election campaign were now being harassed. Mr Sattar said that the Singh governor Kamal Azfar had spoken to MQM coordination committee members and told them that the administration would increase security for MQM supporters in these areas. ------------------------------------------------------------ MQM rules out coalition with PPP in Sindh KARACHI - Mohajir Qaumi Movement, the second largest party of the province, yesterday ruled out any possibility of an alliance with Pakistan People's Party (PPP) for forming government in Sindh province. "The question of entering into an alliance with the PPP to form a coailition government in Sindh does not arise. It is too early to initiate talks with like-minded parties on the issue. We have not contacted any party, including Pakistan Muslim League (N) on the matter," Senator Ishtiaq Azhar, central leader of MQM, told newsmen. The party has secured 28 seats in the provincial assembly where the PPP has emerged as the largest party with 35 seats, with one result yet to be announced, in a house of 100. The PPP, like the MQM, can form a government in the province with the help of independents and minor parties. However, political analysts believe that whoever succeeds in forming the government would face a difficult situation, being at the mercy of independnet legislators and those of minor parties. A coalition government of that type will not find it easy to introduce meaningful policy changes or to properly govern the province. Senator Ishtiaq Azhar said the party high command would be meeting in a day or two to thrash out the issue and any decision taken would be placed before the party chief Altaf Hussain for final approval. He said the party had in mind the possibility of the province getting the first MQM chief minister and added that there was no dearth of capable and competent people for the post in its rank. With the PPP in a total disarray and other parties unlikely to join hands with them to form government in the province, the most likely scenario appears to be a coailition between MQM and the PML (N). However, the major bone of contention could be the choice of the chief minister. However, a PPP leader was quoted by a mass-circulated Urdu daily yesterday as saying that the party was seriously considering the idea of forming the government and contacts had already been established with independents and legislators of small parties. The PML (N) has two strong candidates - a former chief minister of the province, Syed Ghaus Ali Shah, and Liaquat Jatoi; the PML (F) has Pir Sibghatullah Rashdi, son of Pir Pagara, and MQM's best bet is former Karachi Mayor and former leader of opposition in the provincial assembly Dr Farooq Sattar. Meanwhile, MQM's London-based chief Altaf Hussain alleged yesterday that the authorities had played a big role in the defeat of several MQM candidates for national and provincial assembly seats, particularly in Karachi, through an organised rigging. Addressing party workers on telephone from London, the MQM chief alleged that the organised rigging had been done to show that the party had lost its vote-bank. He said that despite "blatant foul play" the MQM still emerged as the most popular urban political force in the province. Other leaders of MQM have been publicly saying over the past two days that because of the rigging the party had lost two seats in Karachi, both by close margins. The party claimed that its candidates had won the seats in 1988 and 1990 elections by huge margins. ----------------------------------------------- Democracy has loose foothold: US paper ISLAMABAD, Feb. 5: It took more than two decades for Pakistan to hold its first free election and almost another two for national votes to become the standard way to transfer political power. Other habits of democracy, however, have yet to take hold. "The problem is not elections. The problem is what happens between elections," said Peter Manikas, a senior consultant to the National Democratic Institute, which has monitored several Pakistani elections. Four national votes in the past eight years, pitting two competitive political parties against each other, have not increased government accountability u and may have actually brought an increase in corruption. The country's courts, have not been trusted to even-handedly probe official wrongdoing, leaving corruption investigations to temporary, ineffective tribunals. Opposition parties in parliament have been single-mindedly devoted to ousting the government, which they have succeeded in doing four times since 1988 through similar dismissal orders authored by indirectly elected presidents. Behind it all looms the military, which has ruled Pakistan for half its 50-year history and remains a stabilising but secretive power. Public memory of martial law, which ended a decade ago, continues to stifle free expression. The problems of Pakistan's democracy are so manifold that a Council on Foreign Relations panel recently warned the developing nation of 130 million "may turn into a failed state" if its elite's do not change course. The leader with the best opportunity to solidify Pakistan's democracy is presumptive prime minister Nawaz Sharif, 47, whose Pakistan Muslim League won an unprecedented two-thirds majority in Monday's parliamentary elections. Sharif, who also was prime minister from 1990 to 1993, will face a small, disjointed opposition possibly led by the Pakistan People's Party of ousted prime minister Benazir Bhutto, which captured about 20 seats. "Benazir Bhutto has totally destroyed our economy, so we'll have to bring in very bold reforms," Sharif said on Tuesday. "Since we have an overwhelming majority, we are preparing a fresh agenda." Sharif also has promised to break a pattern of Pakistan's leaders using courts and investigative agencies to exact revenge against political opponents. He did it to Bhutto's family after she was dismissed from office and he succeeded her in 1990; she did it to Sharif's family after his resignation brought her back to power in 1993. "We are not going to indulge in any politics of revenge. It will be clean, good politics, and we'll try to seek her cooperation to take the country forward," Sharif said in Lahore, his home town and the capital of Punjab.uDawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) Washington Post ------------------------------------------ Final tally of results of polls with comparative study KARACHI, Feb 5: The Pakistan People's Party has emerged as single-largest party in Sindh Assembly by bagging 36 seats; followed by the MQM which got 28 seats while the PML-N stood third with 15 seats. A final count of all the 100 Muslim seats of provincial assembly as compiled by the Provincial Election Commission (PEC), Sindh, shows that the NPP got three seats; PPP-SB (2); MWM (2); NPP-Working group (1); whereas the number of independent MPA-elect stood at 12. One more seat (PS-30 Larkana-II) has been won by Amir Bux Bhutto from the platform of United National Alliance (UNA). He is son of caretaker Sindh chief minister Mumtaz Ali Bhutto. SHOCKING: The most surprising aspect that came to light in the wake of final results compiled by the PEC was that two provincial assembly seats had been won by Muslim Welfare Movement (MWM) candidates, although there was no mention of any candidate contesting from the MWM's platform in the PEC's final list of contestants. These two candidates about whom the PEC results now show that they had won from the MWM platform are: Mir Naseer Khan Khoso from PS-13 Jacobabad-IV and 2) Agha Ghulam Ali Buledi from PS-14 Jacobabad-V. The political analysts opine that since neither the PPP nor the MQM had been able to get even simple majority in a House of 109 (100 Muslim and nine non-Muslim), the role of independent and minority MPAs will be crucial in forming the next Sindh government. The results of nine reserved seats for non-Muslims in Sindh Assembly are likely to be announced by Thursday evening. NA SEATS: As far as 46 National Assembly seats from Sindh are concerned, the PEC's results show that the PPP has secured 18 seats; MQM (12); PML-N (9); PPP-SB (1); NPP (1) and Independents (5). COMPARATIVE STUDY: A comparative study of the 1997 elections with that of the 1993 polls shows that during the 1993 polls, of the total 46 NA seats from Sindh, the PPP had bagged 33 (18 in 1997); PML-N had got 10 (9 in 1997); NPP u 1 (1 in 1997). The MQM was allegedly forced to boycott the NA election in 1993. The number of independent MNAs-elect has jumped from one in 1993 to five in 1997. The PPP-SB which had no seats in the 1993 election has been able to get one NA seat in 1997. Besides the PIF which had secured one seat in 1993 polls, lost its existence in 1997 and there is at present no such alliance. Both the PML and the PPP had benefited from the MQM's boycott of the National Assembly polls by clinching seven seats each, along with the PIF which had got one seat. However, with MQM's participation in PA poll in 1993, the political scenario of Sindh had drastically changed. The intake of both the PPP and the PML had corresponded to their real following in rural Sindh at 56 and eight seats, respectively. In 1993 poll, the MQM had swept urban Sindh by getting 22 seats from Karachi, four from Hyderabad, and one from Thar. However, in 1997 elections, the MQM had got, in all, 28 seats i.e. 21 from Karachi; four from Hyderabad; one from Sukkur; one from Nawabshah and one from Mirpurkhas. Though in 1993 polls, the independent candidates had managed to get only one NA seat from Sindh, they have now secured five NA seats from the province. Nawabshah had returned two NPP candidates for Sindh Assembly in 1993 as against three in 1997 polls. Late Murtaza Bhutto had won from Larkana after being defeated from all the three NA seats which he had contested in 1993. ---------------------------------------------------- Iran making missiles for striking Israel: CIA WASHINGTON, Feb 5: Iran will have missiles capable of striking Israel within 10 years, CIA acting chief George Tenet told Congress on Wednesday. Iran "is building its capacity to produce and deliver weapons of mass destruction u chemical, biological and nuclear u and in less than 10 years probably will have longer range missiles that will enable it to target most of Saudi Arabia and Israel," Tenet told the Senate intelligence committee. "In my view, ballistic and cruise missile proliferation presents one of the greatest emerging threats to US regional interests and deployed forces," said General Patrick Hughes, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, which collects military intelligence. Hughes said fewer than five countries now have ballistic missiles with a range of more than 500 km. But "that number could grow to more than 10 by 2010," he said. The Pentagon accused Iraq on Tuesday of hiding 25 ballistic missiles on its territory in violation of UN resolutions and warned Baghdad that the US was prepared to defend its forces in the region.uAFP ----------------------------------------- >From Jinnah to Benazir and after FIFTY-SEVEN years ago on 23rd of March, 1940, a Muslim rally in the historic city of Lahore overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution stipulating the formation of a sovereign entity comprising Muslim majority provinces in British India. The motion had been moved by the All-India Muslim League, a party of Muslim modernists led by Jinnah (1876-1948), a London-trained barrister and one of the leading political voices in the subcontinent. To Jinnah and other Leaguers, the Indian National Congress, the India-wide political party founded in 1885, despite its avowed aims to serve supra-communal interests had been unable to attract Muslims. The League, itself founded in 1906, aimed at safeguarding the Muslim communitarian interests while to Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru it had come to serve merely communalist ideology. Jinnah, an avowed secularist, considered Indian political struggle for decolonisation in the 1930s and 1940s to be an international problem and refused to accept any solution to the constitutional impasse that reduced it to a mere Raj versus Congress equation. Jinnah considered Indian Muslims, compared with other communities, to be extremely underprivileged urgently needing a tangible political dispensation in the form of a sovereign state so as to engineer an uplift. His was the Muslim nationalism rather than being Islamic u a thin yet specific line differentiating a general cultural reality from a theocratic specificty. Jinnah's claim to establish territorial state and stipulating Muslim characteristics yet disallowing theocracy was hotly contested both by the ulema (religious scholars) and the regionalist ethnic elite. But his vision of a Pakistan as superordinate identity providing an honest mediation amongst various feuding religious / sectarian and regionalist / localist affiliations turned out to be a sensible and the best possible stratagem. Jinnah foresaw the existence of plural religious communities in the young republics of India and Pakistan as the most significant guarantee for it peaceful, forward-looking subcontinent. By 1947, Jinnah, an ailing man and already quite senior in age, had to suffer an immediate setback that definitely must have left him as a broken man. The transborder migrations and the accompanying ethnic cleansing in 1947 fuelled the inter-communal and inter-state tensions which, all of a sudden, overwhelmed the forces of sanity across the region. On the eve of independence, Jinnah, in his landmark speech of 11 August 1947, quite candidly observed: "You are free, you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed u that has nothing to do with the business of the State." Despite the communal riots, to the founder of the country, this creed was to anchor the official policies. He had never exploited religious sentiments to further any parochial or personal cause and used Islam in a cultural and symbolic sense to forge solidarity amongst the disparate Muslim communities and had been rebuked by Ulema who named him as the Kafir-i-Azam (the great infidel) instead of his more popular tile of the Quaid-i-Azam (the great Leader). Jinnah's vision of a democratic, tolerant, plural and egalitarian Pakistan was dashed down soon after his death when the oligarchies led by the bureaucrats and generals took over the new state and began using Islam so as to earn legitimacy for their non-representative regimes. The ulema became the unofficial ayatollahs for various regimes which inherently abhorred constitutionalism, decentralisation and accountability. In addition the very ethno-centricism of such regimes, despite their modernist postulations betrayed their national objectives. >From Ghulam Mohammad, a bureaucrat-turned executive, to his long line of successors and from generals Iskander Mirza to Ayub Khan and Zia-ul-Haq, democratic and pluralist forces were either simply suppressed or surpassed with religious symbols providing the convenient legitimising ideology. Even a populist leader like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto occasionally capitulated to religious pressures to exact political support. During the Zia's regime, exploitation of religious ideology both for domestic and external purposes cost Pakistan immensely. The supersession of normal democratic processes only multiplied acute dissensions within the society and state. Other than ethnic conflict, Shia-Sunni feuds have claimed numerous innocent lives whereas politicians while mired in sleaze and unchecked corruption could not establish clean and efficient administration. The country, in a drift, has kept accumulating massive foreign debts with life for an onlinary Pakistani becoming almost unbearable. The country's obsolete institutions allow only the landed elites to monopolise its assemblies whereas the ad hoc decisions are made by the generals and bureaucrats. Curiously, the society has been ready for radical and overdue reforms while the state keeps insisting on status quo and that is why elections have more often failed to bring in some fresh blood. Jinnah's Pakistan of parliamentary democracy exists only in ideals. Undoubtedly, for Benazir Bhutto and her predecessor (and successor, Nawaz Sharif) it was a stupendous job to retrieve democratic and tolerant values from a chaotic and fractious legacy, but that is what the leadership is all about. Ecologically, culturally, linguistically, demographically and politically, Pakistan is a well-defined polity though it does have its own share of acute ideological and ethnic problems. it is located in an arc of crises and especially in the light of unresolved problem over Kashmir with India and a constantly volatile Afghanistan, the country is awash with guns and drugs yet every sensible Pakistani desires a peaceful co-existence, a just system and a tolerant society. Pakistanis have struggled hard against odds and have been given a rough deal mostly by their own leaders who have lacked both vision and courage though the country has always welcomed political processes rather than authoritarianism and has persistently voted for moderate and mundane forces rejecting religious extremists. A vital leadership proves itself only by rising to the challenges of nation-building and time may run out for politicians as the forces of militarism and fundamentalism may sweep the country. Malady will not simply go away by just holding meaningless elections and by merely wasting public funds and resources on ostentatious regalia. Pakistan does need a transparent and responsible government that may come about only through internal stability, consolidation of democracy and an accountable system. Religious freedom, democracy and tolerance as promised and visualised by the founders of the country need to be implemented and the country is definitely ready for that. While the policymakers, police and administrative machinery may be corrupt and inept, efforts for a cleaner and decentralised civil administration must be given priority. Similarly the religious and ethnic leaders have to be 'reined in' through negotiations and by non-partisan and bold cooptive initiatives. The mafia gangs, loan/tax defaulters and similar other criminals u disallowing any personal/political favour u must not be left at large. Similarly, there is greater need to initiate overdue dialogue with India in the spirit of regional cooperation to redirect the scarce funds towards development schemes addressed at a vast youthful expectant society. These are the tasks which would not only put Pakistan on its right Jinnahist tracks but would also elevate present leaders as the pioneers for a more democratic, just and forward-looking Pakistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 07 February 1997 Friday 28 Ramazan 1417 PML-N starts talks with MQM to form govt in Sindh KARACHI, Feb 6: The Pakistan Muslim League (N) Committee, constituted by party chief Mohammad Nawaz Sharif to initiate talks about forming a PML government in Sindh, established its first contact with the Haq Parast Group on Thursday. "Although it is informal communication, it is encouraging and likely to turn formal when the two sides will sit face to face on Friday," unimpeachable sources told Dawn. The committee was formed soon after the Feb 3 elections results had started trickling down, and the PML-N chief had asked his MNA-elect, Illahi Bux Soomro, to reach Karachi from Shikarpur and start working on the possibility of forming a PML-led coalition government. Liaquat Jatoi, Sindh PML-N secretary-general and MPA-elect, was also asked to join as member of the committee which also includes MNAs-elect from Karachi Capt (retd) Halim Ahmad Siddiqui and Mian Ejaz Shafi. Nawaz Sharif has also nominated Mian Majid Sultan, Khwaja Qutub and Maj Mustijab on the committee to assist them in negotiations, the sources said, adding that the committee had been assigned the task of formulating a strategy for the purpose. Latest party position in the Sindh Assembly is PPP 36, PPP (SB) 2, HPG 28, PML (N) 15, Independents 15, NPP 3, and UNA 1. The committee which met formally on Thursday discussed all options before the House for formation of a new government. They are either to form the government with the support of the HPG and other allied parties or seek cooperation from the PPP or the HPG muster support from other groups to form the government. "Politics is known as an art of the possible as it has no permanent enemies. Yesterday's enemies become the allies of tomorrow. But for both the groups (HPG and the PPP) enough water has flown under the bridge as they had a bitter experience in the past of each other, and if at all they make it, it will be an unpleasant pill which cannot be swallowed at least in the near future," the sources opined. "We have no objection if the HPG gets the top slot. But we think in the present circumstances the reaction could be adverse, which is much more clear to the group than to any other section of society," they said. In reply to a question, they said:" We are not in touch with Altaf Bhai in London except through the leader of the MQM negotiation team." They said: "Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, who left for Saudi Arabia to perform Umra on Wednesday along with his family, will be returning home on Friday. We will place before him whatever progress and response we have received from the like-minded groups with regard to formation of the government in Sindh." "The committee which had two marathon sessions in the day and after Iftar, deliberated all options open before it regarding formation of a PML government with the support of our natural allies. However, at the moment we feel that the PPP is not our cup of tea. After all, we had waged a long drawnout struggle against the PPP government and its style of governance and after so crystal-clear a verdict of the people in the Feb 3 polls, there is no point in joining hands with a party which is badly bruised and reduced to a regional party." Recalling PML (N) secretary-general Sartaj Aziz's talks with newsmen at Islamabad the other day, the sources said Mr Aziz had made a categorical statement, when he said the "PML could form a government in Sindh with the help of the MQM." When Dawn contacted Ajmal Dehlavi, leader of the MQM negotiation team, he admitted that the PML (N) team members had contacted him and other members. But the nature of these contacts were in personal capacity of individuals. "Whatever offers I have received from the groups about forming the government have been passed on to the MQM Coordination Committee and to our party leadership in London. It is up to the leadership whether he forms some new team for holding talks or nominates someone for this purpose," Mr Dehlavi said. However, he reiterated his instance that "at present our primary worry is how to protect the life and property of the people who are being victimised. The law and order situation in areas dominated by our opponents is being deteriorated through rowdyism and our primary concern is not politics but to protect the people." In reply to a question, he said: "We have kept all options open for talks as in politics there is nothing like finality." -------------------------------------------- Future of Sindh setup depends on Altaf: Benazir KARACHI, Feb 6: Former prime minister and chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party, Ms Benazir Bhutto, said on Thursday her party had kept all options open about future setup in Sindh but felt it all depended upon Altaf Hussain which way he wanted to go. Ms Bhutto was asked by newsmen to comment on the reported contacts between the PPP and the MQM, on her arrival here from Islamabad. "We have left it to the provincial leadership to whether or not to prod the track but in fact it depends on Altaf Hussain whether he wanted to go with Nawaz Sharif or not," she said. "Pakistan People's Party," she said, " will touch both the tracks." Hawks in both the parties had rejected the idea of a coalition between the two, although some provincial leaders on either side had not denied that contacts had been made at the provincial level. Replying to a question, she felt that elections were not free, fair but in the interest of stability her party had decided not to launch a movement for the time being. We had to decide whether or not to launch a movement and remove another government and get another caretaker government installed, so that there was more bungling and the mandate was further split and the President got greater opportunity to interfere, said Ms Bhutto. She said the mandate Mian Nawaz Sharif got had enabled him not to be blackmailed or buckled under any pressure. "I want to see Mr Sharif providing economic and political stability and we don't want to spoil the golden jubilee year, and do anything which will make the life of common man more difficult," she said. We had done a lot to make the year memorable. In this context she said her government had developed indigenous response to Indian's Prithvi missile which was to be unveiled this year. She also recalled the plan to hold the Islamic Summit and other arrangements. About the rejection of successive election results by the PPP and PML(N), Ms Bhutto said "1988 elections were rejected by Nawaz Sharif, 90 was rejected by us, 93 was again rejected by him and in 1997 we don't consider the result to be fair." "Somebody has to break this vicious circle because if both of us kept on doing so, the game of musical chair will continue which will add to the misery of the people," she said. Asked about future prospects of her party, Ms Bhutto felt that the people would vote for the party which had developed indigenous response to India's Prithvi missile, initiated various development work in Karachi and elsewhere in the country." Ms Bhutto would preside over meetings of the parliamentary party of Sindh and those who were awarded tickets for the national and provincial assemblies to decided the future course. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Army deployed in Khanewal after rioting MULTAN, Feb 6: Two people were killed and over 15 others injured in clashes between police and an unruly mob protesting against the alleged desecration of a copy of the holy Quran by Christians in Khanewal on Thursday. The army was called out for the assistance of the local administration in the morning and curfew was clamped after 12.00 noon in the city and Sadar police station area, for a few hours, to protect the lives and properties of Christians. About 5,000 people staged a sit-in on the railway track on the Sahiwal-Khanewal section, blocking traffic on the main line. Karachi-bound trains were delayed. The protesters also occupied the railway cabin at Dera Taj railway station, six km from Khanewal. Quetta Express and the station superintendent's office were attacked and damaged. The protesters set on fire two churches, shops, houses and other properties belonging to Christians. Police fired hundreds of teargas shells to disperse the protesters and resorted to baton-charging and firing in the air. The angry mob was marching towards St Joseph Church and Civil Lines Church when the police tried to stop them at the Kutchery Chowk. The demonstrators hurled stones and bricks on the police party, resulting in injuries to a number of policemen. Police reportedly resorted to firing to prevent them from advancing. One person was killed on the spot and another seriously injured as a result of firing, police said. Fifty people were reported to have been arrested. But demonstrators claimed that two people were killed and half a dozen injured in the police firing. Another group of villagers which gathered at Chak 91-10-R, some four km from Khanewal, entered Shantinagar and Bhuttabad villages breaking the cordon of army and police. They reportedly looted the houses of Christians and set a number of them on fire. Police and army failed to remove the agitators from the roads and railway track and subsequently restored to firing in the air, teargassing and baton-charging. According to details, Sadar police, headed by SHO Inspector Azizur Rehman Dogar, had raided Christian village Shantinagar, on Jan 17 to arrest a person, Baba Raji, involved in a kidnapping case. During the raid the police party had allegedly desecrated a copy of the Bible by throwing it on the ground. When the Christian community came to know this, they staged demonstrations and blocked roads on Jan 18, 19 and 20. At last, the deputy commissioner suspended members of the raiding party and got registered cases against them to placate the angry Christians. On Feb 5, at 9 pm, some elements allegedly threw torn pages of the holy Quran and some papers inscribed with derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in a mosque in Chak 91-10-R. The pages were found by some people who informed the villagers over loudspeakers. Hundreds of villagers of adjacent areas armed with batons and other weapons reached there in tractor-trolleys. Later, similar announcements were made from almost all mosques of Khanewal, Katcha Khuh, Dera Taj and Pirawal, and more than 10,000 people gathered in Khanewal city. Some of them attacked the Saint Joseph Church and set it on fire. However, police fired teargas shells and also baton-charged the crowd. The local fire brigade put out the fire. The district administration tried to placate the citizens who deferred their protest till Thursday morning. About 35,000 people gathered in Khanewal city on Thursday morning. They hurled stones and bricks on the police which tried to check their advance towards the Christian localities. In view of the rapidly deteriorating situation, army was called out to assist the civil administration in maintaining law and order. Army jawans cordoned off the Christian localities and churches but the people managed to enter Shantinagar and Bhuttabad where they set on fire a number of houses after ransacking them. However, no casualty was reported as majority of the inhabitants of these localities had moved to safer places on Wednesday night. Those affected by the attack said their valuables had been looted. They told newsmen that the villages were attacked twice and the police failed to stop the attackers. When contacted, the SP Khanewal said the situation was under control and army was patrolling the troubled areas. He hoped that normality would be restored within five to six hours in the area. The Khanewal district magistrate has ordered an inquiry into the incident to apprehend the culprits involved in the alleged desecration of a copy of the holy Quran. He appealed to the citizens not to take the law in their hands and cooperate with the administration in the restoration of peace and tranquillity. -------------------------------------------------- 53 perish as bus falls into ravine near Kohat PESHAWAR, Feb 6: All the 53 trainee recruits of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) travelling in a bus were killed when their vehicle plunged into a deep ravine near Kotal in Kohat, some 55 kilometres from here on Thursday evening. The bus carrying the recruits from their camp at Shabqader to Mianwali skidded off the mountainous road when the driver was negotiating a turn, an official said. The FC recruits were going to their homes to celebrate Eid. Official at the District Hospital Kohat told Dawn they had received 42 bodies and search for the remaining bodies were continuing. An official of the Kotal Customs checkpoint, situated at a distance one kilometre from the accident site, told this scribe on telephone rescue work was being carried out by army jawans and volunteers. He said about 60 people in the bus, including drill masters, were feared dead. The bus was hired to take the trainee FC recruits belonging to the Bhangikhel, a sub-clan of Khattak tribe, to Mianwali via Kohat. Most of the deceased belonged to Shaker Darra and Tappi Sar areas of Mianwali. The names of deceased persons were not available till late night as rescue work was in progress. Emergency was declared in Kohat hospital. The official of the Customs checkpoint told Dawn it was the third major accident in the area. In a recent accident an army truck loaded with arms had met the same fate. APP adds: The occupants of the ill-fated bus included 51 FC recruits, driver and the conductor. The bodies were recovered by the civil administration and the local population. However, most of the bodies were disfigured and could not be identified, reports said. A later report said a survivor identified bodies of 21 dead. They are: Instructor Hal Nawab, Jamil Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Mustafa, Ahmad Nawaz, Umar Hayat, Rashid Iqbal, Mukhtar Ahmad, Salahud Din, Saifur Rehman, Shahid Iqbal, Asif Iqbal, Zafar Iqbal, Alaf Khan, Sakhi Badshah, Mohammad Razi Khan, Mohammad Ayub Khan, Jan Baz, Mohammad Ishaq, Enyat Hussain and Abdus Samad (all recruits). Recruit Tahir Masood, who jumped out of the falling bus, identified the deceased. Search for other victims was still on, but the civil administration and the local volunteers were facing problems due to darkness. The bus was destroyed and its pieces were scattered all over the place, witnesses said. ---------------------------------------------------------- CIA chief fears war between India, Pakistan WASHINGTON, Feb 5: U.S. intelligence officials said on Wednesday that India and Pakistan could stumble into an unwanted war that could rapidly escalate, and that North Korea seemed increasingly vulnerable to violent change. Those led the list of potential world trouble spots in U.S. intelligence agencies' annual assessment for Congress of possible future threats that could affect the United States. Acting Central Intelligence Director George Tenet told the Senate Intelligence Committee that relations between Pakistan and India remain poor "and we see few signs that point toward a serious thaw." "Although neither side wants war, the two rivals could stumble into it, most likely as a result of misperceptions of each others' intentions or military posture," Tenet said. If mutual restraint broke down under crisis pressures, he said, "time available to national leaders and external powers to defuse tensions would be limited." Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, called the India-Pakistan rivalry America's most important security concern in the subcontinent. He said neither side wanted war but both had short-range ballistic missiles, could quickly assemble nuclear weapons and maintained large forces across a tense Line of Control. "With frequent low-level clashes, the potential for miscalculation and rapid escalation is constant," Hughes said. As for North Korea, Hughes said, "change is on the horizon and its likely to be a difficult change." "We are threatened right now by a North Korea which is fragile and I think volatile and trying to determine what direction it will go in and whether or not it will be a violent evolution," he said. CIA Director Tenet put North Korea at the top of a list of nations that could threaten peace in regions around the world, adding, "The continued deterioration of the North Korean economy is weakening the stability of the regime." Tenet said the dangers facing Pyongyang include the possibility that food shortages now affecting the general populace could spread to front-line military units. In addition, he said, security services could become reluctant to crack down on dissent and elites could desert North Korean leader Kim Chong-il. "We have no evidence that any of these conditions are present at this time, but we remain concerned about how the regime's evolution will play out," he said. On other threats, Tenet said Iran, Libya and Syria are among about 20 countries that now have or are actively developing chemical and biological weapons. He said Senate opponents of the unratified Chemical Weapons Convention are right in saying the pact cannot be fully verified and that some countries may cheat. But he said the United States should ratify it because it would give U.S. experts "tools" to help monitor chemical arms activities. He also said the treaty's restrictions on the export of chemicals usable to make weapons would make it harder for terrorists to get them. The Clinton administration is pressing for U.S. ratification but the Senate is holding it up. Tenet said two other potential trouble spots are the Serb province of Kosovo, and the Aegean. He said political demonstrations and turmoil in Serbia have had little impact on Bosnia but have on Kosovo, which he said remains tense. "Some fear that (Serb President Slobodan) Milosevic might even provoke a crisis in Kosovo to distract attention from domestic problems," he said. uReuter ------------------------------------------- Mumtaz accused of engineering son's victory LARKANA, Feb 6: Ayaz Hussain Soomro, the PPP candidate who contested against the caretaker Sindh chief minister's son, Amir Bakhsh Bhutto, at PS-30(Ratodero), has accused Mumtaz Bhutto of manipulation of results through officials, causing his defeat. Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Ayaz Soomro said the concerned returning officer, Qurban Shah, was "purchased" by the allotment of a special medical seat to his son, Mumtaz Ali Shah, in Chandka Medical College before the election on Jan 18 through letter No. PA/DS(ADMN)/CMS/97/299. He said the health secretary had received a letter from the deputy secretary administration with the remarks: "CM's directives, most immediate, most important" in this connection, and this should be considered a bribe for the returning officer. Later pro-SNF personnel were posted as presiding officers and assistant presiding officers in the constituency, he said. Soomro said a mukhtiarkar, the first-class magistrate Shikarpur, Raza Muhammed Bhutto, and a police constable, bearing belt No. 2570, harassed voters at the Arzi Bhutto polling station, stamped ballot papers and stuffed boxes, though they were not posted there. He said that a bogus list of 1200 voters signed by the returning officer was sent to the Mirpur Bhutto polling station, but an army captain sensing something fishy took away the list. Soomro said that things didn't stop here, as the presiding officer of polling station-80(Nusrat station) handed over a list with only Ayaz Soomro's votes without mentioning Amir Bakhsh Bhutto's votes, and later Amir Bakhsh Bhutto was shown to be the winner. He said the returning officer received the boxes and results from one polling station(ShahJolao) of PS-30 on Thursday, which speaks of the degree of rigging. Soomro said that he would soon file a petition with the Election Commission about the rigging, saying that 1800 of his votes were discarded, while only 11 of Amir Bakhsh Bhutto were rejected. He said that all this pointed towards a calculated rigging plan in which the officials were told to ensure the victory of the chief minister's son. ---------------------------------------------- Poverty worsens in Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Feb 6 : Despite reports about fast economic growth in some Asian countries, the Asia-Pacific region has the worst prevalence of poverty in the world. According to a research carried out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on poverty in a number of countries- Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand-more than 800 million poor people live in the region. It says that five hundred millions of them live in extreme poverty. The situation in South Asia is particularly alarming; almost half the population is estimated to live below the poverty line. It also reveals that although there has been significant alleviation in poverty between the 1960s/1980s and the early 1990s both in urban and rural areas, the gap in incomes has widened. Urban poverty has declined at a faster rate than rural poverty. Because majority of the poor live in rural areas, a larger proportion of the rural population continues to live below the poverty line. In Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and the Philippines poverty had declined, but then, rose again from mid to late 1980s, especially after the late 1980s. This theme was discussed at a high level Asian Regional Policy Workshop on Macro Policies and Micro Interventions for Poverty Alleviation now being held by ILO and UNDP Bangkok. Senior policy-makers and representatives of employers' and workers' organisations from 10 Asian countries; including Pakistan discussed adopting macroeconomic and structural adjustment policies targeted at various sectors to benefit the poor and women. The objective is to sensitise policy makers on these issues. The ILO programmes include the generation of employment and development of human resources through education and training; bringing the concerns of women workers into the mainstream; providing protection for migrant workers; encouraging the growth of small enterprises and micro-enterprises and eliminating the incidence of child labour while giving them and their families alternatives for their well-being and development. The Regional poverty Alleviation Programme aims at building up capacity at the government and community levels and encourage participatory approaches by empowering the poor. The strategy is to promote successful community-based initiatives, improve the design and implementation of programmes at the local level, and establish effective monitoring systems for human development and poverty. Special measures will be taken to pull women out of poverty and promote their full participation in all dimensions of socioeconomic development. The new research says that poverty alleviation is one of the ILO's main priorities in the Asia and Pacific region. The aim is to help governments develop coherent national and social policies, and promote action to overcome social exclusion, especially of vulnerable groups. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 February 1997 Saturday 29 Ramazan, 1417 Nawaz says PML to form govts in provinces LAHORE, Feb. 7: PML President Nawaz Sharif said on Friday that his party will form governments in all provinces in addition to the one in Islamabad. "Chances of the PML governments in the Punjab, Sindh and NWFP are very clear. We will also set up our government in Balochistan in cooperation with the like-minded parties,", he said while talking to newsmen at the Lahore airport on his arrival from Saudi Arabia after performing Umra. He said the PML was also a force in Sindh and a committee of the PML leaders was in touch with the MQM. Replying to a question, Mr Sharif said he would welcome Ms Bhutto's statement that she would give the PML its full term and would not indulge in confrontation or agitation. "This is a very positive change. We'll try to take the opposition along on all important national issues", Mr Sharif said. He parried a question about the possible reason behind change of heart on the part of the PPP chairperson. The PML president said his party had always been in favour of a working relationship between the government and the opposition. But, he said, the period between 1993 and 1996, when the PDF was in power, was very unfortunate. However, he said, he would not like to make himself a hostage to the past. Instead, he would like to focus his attention on the future. "Our tomorrow's should be better than our yesterdays in all respects, economically, politically and socially". Replying to a question, the PML president said it was for the parliament to decide whether or not to repeal the Eighth constitutional amendment and retain or disband the Council for Defence and National Security. He did not answer a question whether a decision on the fate of the Eighth amendment would be taken in the light of the party manifesto. The PML manifesto is silent about the issue of this amendment. This means, the party does not want to repeal this amendment. He said all decisions would be taken keeping in sight the national interests instead of the personal ones. Replying to a question about Jamaat-i-Islami's policy that it would monitor the performance of the PML government for six months before taking any further decision, Mr Sharif said his party would ask Qazi Husain Ahmed about his agenda. If his agenda was workable, he said, his government would implement it. About the accountability of the corrupt, the PML president said only his party was in a position to carry it out. He recalled that during the last three years, his family had faced many difficult situations. There were times, he said, when such matters were brought to the fore with which his family had nothing to do. However, he was happy that his family crossed the bridge without any difficulty. Answering a question about his future priorities, the PML president said the solution of problems created during the last three years would top his agenda. "This will be an uphill task. But we have accepted the challenge". He said he would try to put the economy back on the rails. Such an approach would ultimately provide a relief to the nation. "We'll make Pakistan a strong country", he said. The PML president said it was for the provincial leaders to decide when they should call meetings of their parliamentary parties. He said decision would be taken very soon about those elected on the provincial as well as the national seats. "This is not going to be a difficult decision for us", he added. Earlier, he was given a warm welcome at the Executive Lounge of the airport. PML leaders including Chaudhry Shujaat Husain, Syed Mushahid Husain, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Khwaja Asid, Humayun Akhtar Khan and many others were present to receive their leader. Outside the lounge, many PML workers were present and they raised slogans of "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif". ---------------------------------------------- Senate election in March Islamabad - Forty-six new members of the senate (upper house of Pakistan parliament) will be elected in the first week of next month, APP learnt here on Friday. The new members will replace those 46 senators who will complete their six-year terms on March 20. The schedule for the election will be announced later this month. Ten senators will be elected from each province, four from FATA and two from the federal capital. The senators will be elected on a party basis under the proportionate representation system. The party|s will get representation in the senate according to their voting strength they achieved in the recent polls. The elections for almost half of the senate seats are held after every three years. The last time the elections took place on March 2, 1994. After, the elections for 46 seats, the senate will also re-elect its chairman and deputy chairman as the term of incumbent Wasim Sajjad and Mir Abdul Jabbar will also expire. The coming elections will give a greater benefit to the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) due to its landslide victory in the February 3 Provincial Assembly elections, particularly in Punjab and NWFP. The Provincial Assemblies are the electoral college for the senate election. However, the member from the capital are elected by the members of the National Assembly. The PML-N and its allied parties, which have already achieved almost a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, will consolidate their electoral strength in the upper house. The existing strength of PML-N senators - 16 ! is likely to increase to 52 in the 87-member house. At present its allied parties, ANP and JUP, have six and two members respectively. When asked to comment on the future composition or party position in the senate after the March election, PML-N leader in the house Raja Zafarul Haq said it would be for the first time that his party would have representation from Sindh, where its 15 members were elected to the Provincial Assembly. The ruling party, he said, would be in much better position to have smooth sailing in the two houses of the parliament for purpose of legislation and constitutional amendments. The PPP has 24 senators, out of which 10 will retire in March. The party could not be in a position to enhance its membership. Keeping in view the emerging position in favour of the PML-N and its allied parties, it is quite evident that they would be occupying the offices of chairman and deputy chairman. ------------------------------------------ PPP in bid to form Sindh government Karachi - Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has decided to put up its central leader, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, for the chief minister's post if its efforts for the formation of a coalition government in Sindh succeeded. Central information secretary senator Iqbal Haider said on Friday Amin's choice as leader of the house in Sindh Assembly was made by consensus at a meeting of the elected members from the province at Bilawal house. He said PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto had not ruled out the possibility of a coalition with the Mohajir Qaumi Movement MQM) or independent and other groups. She had told reporters on arrival from Islamabad on Thursday night her party had kept all options open about the future setup in Sindh but she said it would depend upon MQM leader Altaf Hussain which way he wanted to go. Hawks in both the parties had rejected the idea of a coalition between the PPP and the MQM owing to the recent violence, kidnapping and alleged extra-judicial killings. However neither side had denied that contacts had been made at the provincial level. Makhdoom Amin's choice could lead to a broad-based coalition in Sindh in which not only MQM but also independents, mainly elected with PML(Functional) support were included. Makhdoom Amin, who was elected to the National Assembly from NA-167, emerged as the consensus candidate in view of his moderate views and contacts with the MQM and PML(F). In that case he would be required to vacate his NA seat and contest a by-election to become leader of the house in Sindh. -------------------------------------------------- Eid in parts of NWFP today PESHAWAR, Feb. 7: Sticking to its traditions the NWFP is set to observe two eids as a group of local Ulema, after holding a lengthy meeting announced at late Friday night that prayers for the Eid-ul-Fitr would be offered at various mosques in the provincial capital on Saturday morning. Like previous years a meeting of the local (non-official) Ulema was held at Qasim Khan mosque which announced its decision declaring Eid after receiving 53 witnesses about sighting of Shawal moon on Friday evening. The announcement was made by the loud-speaker from the Qasim Khan mosque that the committee had received sufficient witnesses regarding moon sighting in the districts of Charsadda, Mardan, Kohat. Swabi and Peshawar. Similar announcements were also made from several mosques. However, in rest of the country the Eid is likely to be observed on Sunday besides in parts of the NWFP. Following the announcement by the committee, Eid would be celebrated in parts of Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi, Nowshera, Peshawar, Sher Garrah, Dargai, Lower Malakand Agency and Takht Bhai. In these areas majority of the people had started fasting on Jan 10, a day earlier than the rest of the country. Unlike the previous year, when the then chief minister Aftab Khan Sherpao had also celebrated the Eid at his home town Charsadda a day before the official Ruit-i-Hilal Committee's announcement, This time the provincial government has decided to follow the Federal government. ----------------------------------------------------------- Forms of administrative corruption in Pakistan IN CONTINUATION of the argument presented in my article "Institutional decay in Pakistan" (Dawn: January 6, 1997), administrative corruption in Pakistan is a logical outcome of the power pursuits of the administratively inept top men at both the macro and micro levels of management in the country. Since their rise to the top is not a function of merit as much as it is a function of unethical, devious, and corrupt practices; it is the latter that they are equipped to institutionalise better rather than the high standards of work, conduct, and character. Little wonder then that the system has begun to generate an unbearable stench. The most glaring form of administrative corruption appears in the form of appointments, promotions, and rewards dispensed on the basis of criteria other than merit. The commonly used and generally accepted criteria are favouritism, nepotism, cronyism, and intellectual slavery. Rewards usually go to those who excel not in terms of work performance but in the practice of sycophancy, bootlicking, and providing moral support to the manipulative ways of the top management. Many public sector top men get to these top positions mainly because they excel as master manipulators in successfully planning and executing their plans of administrative and/or financial corruption. In these designs, the top men are aided and abetted by their coterie or henchmen whose services and loyalties are rewarded as explained above. In addition, they might share the pecuniary gains, if any, that are made in the process. Consequently, an inner circle of inept and corrupt administrators develop which together serves as a formidable barrier to attempts at organisational and institutional development and to any change for the better. The inner circle is thus comprised of men who have, in turn, been able to acquire power on the basis of the above undesirable set of skills. If 'success' is attained thus and most visibly, the upshot would be that acquisition and practice of the this set of skills would become the primary activity of the onlookers thus providing large-scale moral support to administratively corrupt practices. So 'immorality' became the IN thing in Pakistan's public sector organisations to the extent that its meaning was twisted to set new norms of morality. It was the distortion of the concept of morality that triggered and stimulated the rot in many public sector organisations. When success was seen to be achieved only by the administratively corrupt, then good administrative practices naturally stood disfigured and mutilated. Administrative corruption thus took roots in various organisations eroding the institutions that they were. Institutional capacities were further undermined as the power seeking top management's or powercrats became larger than the institutions they governed. Consequently, in Pakistan, personalities emerged as institutional structures withered and crumbled under the heavy weights of their top management's who came to bear on them like monoliths. We have, therefore, developed a lot of big names in the country but hardly any big institution worth the name. On the contrary, these big names take pride in deteriorating institutional performance if it occurs after their departure. For, they wish to correlate institutional performance to their presence when, as true administrators and management experts, they should be taking pride in developing institutions that would propel themselves through an inner momentum of their own. Instead, these top men wish to be recognised as 'the one and only' and make claims that could only border on blasphemy. The unfortunate part of the story, however, is that they continue to move around as men of integrity, character, stature, and status. And, after committing the worst administrative crimes possible, they continue to hide behind the garb of being peace-loving and law-abiding with impeccable reputations when they should be brought on the carpet for some of their worst offences against the human resources who make up the organisations they have headed. While the need of the hour is to pull off a lot of these masks of pseudo-respectability from the faces that have remained engaged in the consolidation of their power and/or empire-building at the micro levels, it is the same race that is witnessed at the macro level for which the politicians are accursed routinely. It is, however, the smaller size of the race-track at the micro levels that keeps the runners concealed from public scrutiny. Whereas the macro screen provides more visibility to a greater number of viewers which has led to an uproar in the country against the politicians. It should, however, be recognised that in the corrupting race for power and prestige; politicians; professionals, intellectuals, bureaucrats, and technocrats have all participated alike. And, if one studies closely, one will find many in the afore-mentioned categories who have even changed the race-track from the micro to the macro level or keep interchanging it between the two levels. At the macro level, while the examples of administrative corruption of politicians are numerous; there is yet another strain of this tendency emerging at the federal level that might have far reaching implications for the country's political and economic system. The manner in which the last caretaker set-up packed the grades of 21 and 22 is unprecedented. The number of promotions even spilled over the available vacancies. Perhaps vacancies will be created after the promotions have been made and after the number of government departments and divisions has been reduced which is indeed ludicrous. This addition to the public expenditure stands in stark contrast with the cost-cutting spree of the national accountants in the form of reduced government divisions, re-prioritised development expenditure, and large-scale retrenchments. So, the above could only be a conventional way of rewarding loyalties and winning support, as described earlier in this article, either for the then rulers or for the rulers-to-come. And, the then rulers of the caretaker set-up were clearly a new variant of the establishment dominated by the President and the Bretton Woods connected caretaker economic managers who were later joined by the CDNS. So, why would an outgoing caretaker set-up care to please the bureaucracy in the above manner and in its last days? It could not be for past loyalties as it would neither constitute the ways of the modern world nor were there many cases of such loyalties. Clearly, the intent was to secure loyalties for the future. And, why would there be a need to worry about the future when a new elected government should be expected to take charge of all affairs? Clearly, either the confidence in the future elected government was minimal or the intent was to oversee the future elected government through the above variant of the establishment. If the idea is for the establishment to provide supervision to an elected government, then there is a clear drift to either a presidential form of government or towards a variant of dictatorship of the President-Bretton Woods-military combine. First, the manner in which the drift is orchestrated is devious and can, therefore, be termed an administrative irregularity. Second, the effectiveness of the elected government might be jeopardised by a bureaucracy that will tend to be more loyal to the above variant of the establishment than the executing government. A not-so-effective government might then be easier to dismiss fearing which an office-seeking government might chose to 'take dictation this time from the above variant of the establishment. If the latter turns out to be the case, then, third, the authority of the institution of the parliament would be undermined when there is a need to strengthen to establish parliamentary supremacy so as to trigger an economic development process that would first be people-oriented and eventually people-centred. In the process, not only would the parliament be weakened and reduced to rubber-stamping the decisions communicated by the establishment but the outrageous advocacy by Mr Moeen Qureshi for an active role of the army, and repressive forms of government as in Indonesia and Turkey, might materialise without dismissing another elected government. Even Mr Burki's advice, rendered during a PTV interview (January 30, 1997), vis-a-vis separation of economics from politics is ominous as it points in the direction that Mr Moeen Qureshi has been wanting to give to the country's politics and economics since 1993. The Bretton Woods connected economists, or more correctly national accountants, will not have to wait in the wings as they did during the 1993-1996 Benazir tenure to first see the elected government clean bowled through a virtual economic coup pulled by rival interest groups and then take it over. The above mode, with the help of a bureaucracy-won-over, might just facilitate a smooth transition so as to fulfil the Moeen-Burki aspirations behind a smokescreen of an elected government. Should the above happen, the people of Pakistan will be the losers and administrative corruption of the worst kind will have taken place on its soil. The power to take key economic and political decisions will slip from the hands of elected representatives of the people to self-appointed rulers mainly on the basis of their connections with the powers-that-be within the country and abroad. ----------------------------------------------- Poll results justify Leghari's action against Pakistan People's Party government LAHORE - The results of the February 3 elections are as unexpected for the winners as they are for the losers.The Pakistan Muslim League (N), which has swept the polls did not expect more than 115 National Assembly seats and it estimated that the Pakistan People's Party would end up with 50 to 60 National Assembly seats and majority seats in the Sindh assembly. Now that all results of the elections have been announced, it would be right to conclude that President Farooq Leghari was justified in his action against the Benazir government. This also means that if the PPP had been allowed to complete its term, it would not have got even the few seats it has got now. In a way, the president saved the PPP from its total elimination by taking a premature action against it. Bad governance, rampant corruption and the leaders' decision to serve their own interests rather than doing anything for the common man are some of the major reasons for which the sovereign electorate have rejected the PPP and all those who have been its allies during 1993 to 1996. Most of the leaders at the helm of affairs ignored even their party interests and they preferred to get maximum benefits in the minimum possible time. They had the opportunity to hold the local body elections in the Punjab and strengthen their position at the grassroots level. But they did not. They did not know that their rule would come to an end so abruptly and by then they would have done nothing for the future interests of the party. The indifference of the PPP leaders towards the city of Lahore continued from beginning to the end. The roads went on breaking. Street lights disappeared to a great extent. Pollution level went up but the government did nothing. Roads in certain areas, including posh Gulberg, evaporated. Others were washed away by rains but the so-called development packages for Lahore and other big cities remained confined to files. Arrogant PPP leaders left no stones unturned to annoy the electorate. The people then also showed their power on February 3. The conciliatory gestures given by PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto that she would not launch any movement against the Nawaz Sharif government are not out of "love" for her adversary. Instead, she has chosen the path of "no-confrontation" because she knows that the people are no longer in a mood to come on streets. Also, she knows that now that a vindictive Nawaz Sharif is back to power, he may decide to take revenge of the arrest of his 80-year-old father and implication of his other family members in various cases by paying the Bhuttos in the same coin. Already, Asif Ali Zardari is behind bars and it is not difficult for any government to prolong the misery of any accused by slowing down the legal process. The results of these elections also show that religious parties are fast losing their following. While the Jamaat-i-Islami and the JUP (Noorani group) boycotted the elections - and thus escaped an imminent humiliating defeat - others which took part are finding no place to sink. The JUI of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, for example, eroded further its popular base in these elections. A JUI leader's statement published on the day of elections claimed that no party would be able to get even a simple majority and the balance of power would remain with the JUI. But the defeat the JUI had to face Is an eye opener for other parties. The JUP( Niazi group), the Jamiat Ahle Hadith and the Tehrik-i-Jafaria Pakistan, which contested the elections on the PML election symbol, are rapidly losing their individual identity. In fact, the former two parties already seem to have been assimilated by the PML while the TJP - which entered into electoral adjustments with the PML during the elections - would also soon disappear like a bubble in the political ocean of the PML. The very fact that the religious parties are losing ground with the passage of time shows that supporters of these parties are joining hands with Mr Sharif and he is emerging as an alternative to religious parties and as a leader of the liberal Muslims. It appears that if the religious parties failed to take their followers along, Mr Sharif would become the sole leader of all rightist voters. The presence in the electoral arena of Imran Khan's Tehrik-i-Insaaf had offered the voters, fed up with the PPP and the PML, a choice. But his total rejection by the electorate shows that the people are no longer ready to prolong their miseries by giving political novices a chance to govern. They have expressed their support for somebody who, they trust, can deliver the goods in the shortest possible time. If the elections are to be taken as a means of accountability, then the results also manifest that the people don't regard the PML as a party involved in corruption. Had they thought otherwise, they would have supported Imran Khan or the PPP. The overwhelming support to Mr Sharif is also indicative of a qualitative change in the thinking of the people of Pakistan. In 1970, they had given a similar mandate to the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a leader of secular or socialist ideas. Now they have voted for a rightist Nawaz Sharif. The results of the February 3 elections are also a "death message" for President Farooq Leghari. Mr Sharif has got two-third majority in the National Assembly and his party would attain a similar majority in the Senate as a result of elections to 50 per cent seats to be vacated next month. Once the PML has two-third majority in both houses of parliament, the way would be paved for the impeachment of President Leghari. If President Leghari wants to escape impeachment, he will have to work according to the dictates of the Pakistan Muslim League. Ostensibly, the PML would prefer to bring its own man to the fore even if the president agreed to accept Mr Sharif's dictates. The reason is that President Leghari has himself said that he has nothing in common with Mr Sharif. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------