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  • Get ready to quit parliament, ARD directs MPs


    Get ready to quit parliament, ARD directs MPs


    Demands fresh polls under neutral set-up, independent election commission

    By Asim Yasin

    ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the local bodies (LB) elections with distrust in President Pervez Musharraf with regard to holding free polls, the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) on Saturday asked its parliamentarians to get ready for resigning from parliament, demanding fresh election under a neutral set-up with an independent election commission.

    "We have asked all the parliamentarians belonging to ARD to get ready for final call to resign from parliament and when the process of receiving resignations will be completed, we would make them public," said ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim while addressing a press conference here after chairing a meeting of the ARD component parties’ heads. During the press conference, ARD Secretary-General Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, Information Secretary Syed Zafar Ali Shah and PPP Sindh Secretary-General Nafees Siddiqui flanked him.

    Giving details of the meeting, Fahim said the ARD has decided not to participate in any election held under General Musharraf and his team. But, he said, the alliance would not boycott the third phase of the LB polls despite all reservations on the election process. "We will contest the third phase of LB polls in protest and with an aim to further expose the government’s claim of free, fair and transparent elections, which were actually ‘rigged transparently’," he said.

    The ARD chairman said the LB polls exposed the government’s claims of good governance and transparent elections and the alliance demands General Musharraf to step down as the president with all his team so that a neutral setup and an independent election commission could hold fresh elections under supervision of the Human Rights Commission. "The ARD will accepts only those elections to be conducted by an independent election commission established in consultation with the opposition parties," he added.

    Fahim said the Election Commission had taken no measures to prevent "the state-sponsored rigging" in the LB polls and closed its eyes to violations of the code of conduct by the provincial governments. "On the one hand, the opposition parties voiced their protest over the election irregularities and on the other the ruling party lawmakers including Jehangir Tareen, Awais Leghari, Riaz Peerzada, Makhdoom Ahmad Alam Anwar and Dr Sher Afgan also protested against the rigging," he said.

    The ARD chief said that a hat-trick of rigging has been completed after the presidential referendum and general elections 2002 and General Musharraf and all of his team including Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has lost credibility having no moral ground to stick to the power.

    Fahim said there were reports of change in the form of government from parliamentary to presidential, and warned the government that the Constitution allowed only the parliamentary system. "The nation will not accept any change in the form of government and if any individual has this in mind, then the nation would resist it with full strength," he said.

    The ARD chief said one-man’s rule had been imposed in the country; all the resources were being utilised for security of one person and orders of an individual were being made laws while people of the country have no security. "The legislation is being enacted to protect the one-man rule and it is clear from the petition filed by chairman and four members of the Federal Public Service Commission against the presidential ordinance," he added.

    Fahim said the ARD has finalised a plan for public rallies throughout the country and dates would be announced soon. "Probably, it will be started after Ramazan," he said.

    About the ARD’s viewpoint on the Pakistan-Israel contacts, Fahim said the alliance was of very clear view that parliament should be taken into confidence while authoring foreign policy.
    http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/index.html
    `

    The pot boils over.

    If the ARD quits, then the problems of the military assisted democracy that Paksitan sports will get even more murkier.

    Pakistan as it is has enough of problems at hand. This move could not have come at a worst time.

    The Israeli question will surely queer the pitch for Musharraf.


    "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

    I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

    HAKUNA MATATA

  • #2
    According to the constitution any seat that gets available, elections will be conducted to find their replacement.

    What do they think? There will be a shortage of politicians and candidates if they leave? I believe Sheikh Rashid said that in a press statement (his words were "Sau Bismmillah" )

    The ARD is the biggest combination of feudal lords in the politics. Lets see if they leave, a good chunk of them will be thrown out of politics making room for others. Although it'll be sad to see PPPP go. But the ARD is a weak alliance, they won't think twice before leaving the ARD if some political reconcilliation is achieved.

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