ISLAMABAD, 24 January 2008 — The Election Commission of Pakistan yesterday restricted National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, who is also the acting president in the absence of President Pervez Musharraf, from running his election campaign.
Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Farooq Qazi barred Amir Hussain from electioneering on a complaint filed by Pakistan People’s Party candidate Dr. Firdaus Awan, who said that Hussain, being the acting president now, should be stopped from leading his poll campaign. Hussain is contesting election from NA-III Sialkot on a PML (Q) ticket.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif said yesterday that the perilous security situation was hindering campaigning for Feb. 18 elections with politicians putting their lives at risk when they go out to seek votes.
Campaigning for the parliamentary vote, which is hoped will complete a transition to civilian rule and usher in stability, came to a halt last month when another opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, was killed.
She was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack as she left an election rally in Rawalpindi on Dec. 27 and the polls, originally scheduled for Jan. 8, were subsequently postponed.
“Elections are around the corner but what sort of an election campaign can one conduct? How can we go out?” Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad.
“We have been risking our lives and going out before ... but the situation today is more dangerous compared with before.” The government said Benazir was killed by an Al-Qaeda-linked militant leader based in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border and has warned all politicians that they face a looming threat of attack.
The Interior Ministry said last week politicians should avoid unnecessary exposure in the run-up to the vote, keep travel plans unpredictable and avoid big rallies.
Despite a mixed record during his two terms as prime minister in the 1990s, Sharif’s party is expected to do well in the elections.
Sharif repeated a demand for Musharraf to step down, and for a neutral caretaker government and independent Election Commission to supervise the polls.
Sharif has been ruled ineligible for the election because of past criminal convictions he says were politically motivated.
Musharraf, who as army chief ousted Sharif in a bloodless 1999 coup, does not have his own party. The party that supports him and ruled under him is expected to fare poorly in the polls.
The elections are for a lower house of Parliament, from where a prime minister and government will be drawn to govern with Musharraf, and assemblies in Pakistan’s four provinces.
Sharif initially urged an opposition boycott of the vote but decided his party would take part after Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party refused to join a boycott.
He again spoke of his fears the vote would be rigged in favor of the party that supports Musharraf but ruled out a boycott, saying that would only leave the field open to Musharraf’s allies. “We are monitoring those who plan to rig the polls and will make all efforts to fight it,” he said. Musharraf has dismissed opposition complaints of rigging and has promised the vote will be fair.
After the news conference, Sharif tried to visit deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry but police stopped him from approaching Chaudhry’s house.
