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Pakistani parties demand an end to ban on political activities

Pakistan's main political parties on Thursday demanded the immediate lifting of a 32-month ban on political activities as President Pervez Musharraf scheduled the general election on October 10.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharief's Pakistan Muslim League said the election would be 'meaningless' unless the ban on the activities of political parties was lifted immediately.

"There is no political activity in Pakistan since the coup (in October 1999 when Musharraf ousted Sharief)," PML spokesman Syed Zafar Ali Shah was quoted as saying in a news report.

"Without lifting the ban on political activity, this announcement is meaningless. What is the point in calling elections if people are not able to conduct political activities? If political parties are not free to carry their message ... this is a mockery of elections," he said.

Echoing PML's sentiments, Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party spokesman Farhatullah Babar said his party will 'defy the ban' on political parties imposed by Musharraf.

"It goes without saying. We will defy the ban and carry on our political activities," Babar said.

He said the PPP had reservations over the scheduling of the elections for the senate on the same day as elections for the assemblies.

The senate, he said, must be voted in by an electoral college of provincial assemblies.

"This means he is also trying to tamper with the constitution and perhaps have direct elections for the senate. We believe the government has already started pre-poll rigging," Babar said.

"We will expose and continue to reject these actions," he said.

Agencies

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