Islamabad, February 13, 2008: The Pakistan Peoples Party welcomed the latest Human Rights Watch report that points to impartiality of the Election Commission of Pakistan describing it as a crucial issue impeding free and fair elections.

As the country heads for election in less than a week's time, the general public, political parties, election monitoring bodies have expressed dissatisfaction over the polling process that is being blatantly hijacked to ensure PML-Q's victory. The PPP has been consistently pointing towards discrepancies in the electoral process which is evident from violence and harassment by police officials, extensive use of state machinery to the advantage of PML-Q, transfer of important officials, Pervez Musharraf's open campaigning for his supporters and the interference of certain intelligence agencies in the polling process.  

Calling the HRW report as yet another proof of the lack of transparency that mark the February 18 polls, Sherry Rehman Central Information Secretary PPP said that the ECP has miserably failed in its constitutional duty to ensure free and fair polls. "The ECP's partiality has stood out as a fact of life from day one. The PPP has been sending out written complaints along with documental proof of rigging every single day since the ECP was constituted. The ECP has failed to redress even a fraction of our complaints."

Pointing to continued violence, Rehman said that it has become hallmark of these elections. "Early in December '07, three PPP workers were brutally murdered in Naseerabad while another one received serious bullet injuries. Despite lodging an FIR, the police failed to nab the culprits. In NA-105 and PP-111 Gujrat, police is actually providing protection to the killers of a PPP supporter Ali Hassan. Another PPP supporter in Sindh was shot dead by the police itself during an illegal raid on his house. None of our repeated pleas could move the ECP to take action against this act of human rights abuse. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's murder after an election rally in Rawalpindi is the most horrible proof of election-related violence that the ECP has criminally ignored."

Commenting on the ECP's failure to stop local Nazims from campaigning for PML-Q candidates, Rehman said this has given a dangerous boost to the local administration's zeal to ensure Q-League's victory. "In NA-62 and 63, the District Nazim of Jhelum has imposed section 144 in the area to facilitate smooth running of his uncle Ch. Shahbaz Hussain's election campaign. The Election Office of PML-Q candidates Ch Waseem Gulzar from NA-59 has been set up at the residence of the Naib Nazim Syed Sada Hussain Shah. In Kashmore NA-210, District Nazim Sardar Salim Khan drives PML-Q candidate Nasrullah Bajrani to political meetings in his official car accompanied by two official police escort vehicles. These are just a fraction of countless reports involving nazims' active role in the political campaigning of the PML-Q candidates."

Rehman said that harassment stands out as the most frequently used technique to hound the PPP's political activists of political activists. "The harassment spree has picked up pace following Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's tragic assassination. Thousands of our workers and activists have been booked on false charges of rioting. Many of them have been booked under anti-terrorism act." She added that the general public too is at the receiving end of the regime's harassment campaign. "There have been numerous reports regarding intimidation of local population by police officials who have been pressurising them to vote for PML-Q candidates."

Commenting on HRW's report that mentions 90 transfers of officials in Sindh province alone, Rehman said that this is to facilitate the Q-League's victory. She noted that important officials from DIG to SHO to Election Returning Officers have been transferred at the behest of PML-Q candidates. "Despite being out of power, Pervez Elahi and Arbab Ghulam Rahim are still issuing transfer orders across Punjab and Sindh replacing "less cooperative" officials with the favourable lot. Arbab Rahim has even been meddling in police department which is way out of his jurisdiction."  

Rehman said that documented proof exists of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi's attempts to bribe voters across Punjab. "Residents in Punjab have been receiving money order worth Rs1500 in exchange for a scanned copy of their ID cards which would be used by PML-Q candidates on the polling day. In Balochistan, the administration is distributing wheat at subsidised rates to those promising to vote for PML-Q. In NA-111, district administration is providing sui gas connection in exchange for vote for PML-Q's Chaudhry Ameer Hussain, who has been using the government rest house as his election office."

Rehman noticed blatant manipulation of voters list in Baluchistan where in NA-262 number of voters on the voters list exceeds the total population of the area. "Apart from discrepancies in voters list, there is a marked decrease in the number of polling stations being set up across the country. In 2002, the Province of Sindh had 13,962 polling stations for 1,61,73,965 voters. Compared to that, in 2008, the number of polling stations in Sindh has gone down to 13,460 while the number of voters stand at 1,95,6473. This means people will have to make an extra effort in this chilly weather to make it to the polling stations, which appears to be an attempt aimed at discouraging them from casting their vote."

Rehman also added that the credibility of the electoral process not only suffers because of a biased ECP that went to the extent of amending constitution ahead of the presidential polls last year to facilitate General Musharraf, the partiality of the caretaker regime stands as an equally imposing issue. "Key members of the caretaker regime from PM Soomro to Information Minister Nisar Memon and Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination, Dr. Muhammad Amjad hail from PML-Q. Their close relatives are contesting elections. How can they be trusted to conduct transparent polls?"

Rehman said that February 18 is one last opportunity to pull the country out of the current crisis. "The country has never experienced such an acute state of political turmoil and uncertainty. The situation has been deteriorated by worsening economic indicators. People are pinning their hopes on the February 18 polls as they see their vote as catalyst for change and for better times. The regime must show respect for people's wishes. Rigging elections is not merely an unconstitutional move anymore. On Feb 18, it would be counted as a criminal attempt. After suffering eight years of abuse at the hands of this regime the public is eager for a democratic transition. Any attempt to deprive the public of their right to a democratic and representative government will only lead to the destabilisation of the country."