Elections 2008

[sparten]

Wish our analysts would analyse a bit further.

The vote break down fromApp

app - PPPP, PML-N and PML with allies secured 27.140 mln votes

ISLAMABAD, Feb 20 (APP): Three major political parties and their allies bagged total 27,140,067 votes during contest on 264 National Assembly seats in February 18 polls. Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and its coalition partners in the previous government and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged as the maximum vote securing parties.

According to the statistics from Election Commission of Pakistan, former ruling alliance comprising Pakistan Muslim League, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and Pakistan Peoples Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) secured 40% votes while expected ruling parties PPPP and PML-N got 37% and 23% votes respectively.

These statistics show that out of total vote cast former ruling coalition bagged 10,844,233 votes followed by PPPP with 10,055,491 votes and PML-N with 6,240,343 votes.

According to unofficial results so far, PPPP is on top by winning 88 National Assembly seats followed by PML-N’s 66 seats and PML’s 41 seats. PML allied parties, MQM, PML-F and PPP-S have secured 20, four and one seats respectively and if counted collectively, the seats of the former coalition and PML-N are equal (66 seats each).

Pakistan Muslim League and its two allied parties PML-F and PPP-S have collectively bagged 46 seats while out of total secured votes, these parties bagged 31% (8,324,201 votes) of total vote cast.

Another major coalition partner of PML, Muttahida Qaumi Movement secured 9% (2,520,032 votes) out of total vote cast.

These statistics show that when compared with PPPP, the former ruling coalition comprising PML, MQM, PML-F and PPP-S bagged 788,742 more votes than PPPP. The coalition also beat the PML-N in vote count by securing 4,603,890 more votes more than PML-N

hardly a "referendum against Musharraf". Nasim Zehra should hang her head in shame.
40% of the vote.

 

[mujahideen]

Rashid foresees fresh polls in three months

By Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: Former federal minister and self-proclaimed Farzand-i-Pakistan Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who is considered to be close aide of President Pervez Musharraf, on Wednesday predicted fresh elections any time soon, claiming that the new parliament and president could not co-exist for long.

“You will see a cat and mouse game starting within three months,” he told reporters here at a local hotel without explaining who will be the cat or mouse.

However, he made it a point to clarify that the president wanted to continue with the new set-up but “the masters of gloom and crisis” were not willing to see this relationship flourish.

The press conference he called seems more of an attempt to dispel rumours by letting the world know of his presence at home and open-hearted acceptance of the defeat he faced in the February 18 elections.

He also announced to continue his political career by forming his own political party instead of quitting it, but after consulting PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

He conceded that Lal Masjid operation had bitten the PML-Q badly and led to the resounding defeat of the party in the elections, adding that “being in the government it was very difficult for us to ask for vote when the voters were without gas, electricity or had no wheat flour or sugar in their homes.”

He, however, averted a direct question that election defeat of the King’s party was the result of toeing President Pervez Musharraf’s policies.

In an advice to the parties which won and were going to form a parliamentary government, he said it was time to show political maturity instead of choosing confrontation, saying the people of Pakistan had given their mandate against the US policies and therefore the ball was now in their court to honour the responsibility vested with them by the people.

To him, Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N had no political role in the new set-up despite performing fairly well by bagging 67 seats in the national assembly, thus hinting that the PPP might form government without the PML-N in their folds.

Despite all this, he feared that the new government would have to toe the American line and challenged those who were demanding restoration of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to implement their party’s stance.

Rashid foresees fresh polls in three months -DAWN - Top Stories; February 21, 2008

 

[Neo]

Pakistan's opposition parties reach agreement​

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan's two main opposition parties announced Thursday they would form a new government together, but skirted the issue of whether they would push for the ouster of U.S.-backed President Pervez Musharraf.

The ruling party said Friday it doubted that the new alliance would be stable, calling it a "marriage of convenience."

The broad agreement between the two secular opposition groups, which fought bitterly for a decade before Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup, marks an important step toward setting up a civilian administration to govern the Islamic nation after years of military rule.

Asif Ali Zardari, husband of slain former Premier Benazir Bhutto, and Nawaz Sharif, whose last government was ousted by Musharraf, made the announcement after meeting in Islamabad.

"We have agreed on a common agenda. We will work together to form a government together in the center and in the provinces," Sharif told reporters. He said a smaller group, the Awami National Party, would join them.

"The future of democracy is within our grasp. We will strengthen the parliament, we will strengthen democracy, we will work together for Pakistan. We will make a stronger Pakistan," Zardari said.

Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party won 87 National Assembly seats in Monday's election, and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N won 67 out of the 268 contested seats. The pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q got 40, with the rest going to smaller parties and independent candidates. Six seats have yet to be announced.

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The election exposed Musharraf's lack of public support amid rising Islamic militancy and anger over his crackdown on the judiciary. It also raised questions about his survival as head of state. He recently resigned his dual post of military commander, considerably diminishing his power.

While both parties rode a wave of anti-Musharraf sentiment, they still have to hammer out the details of how they will share power and resolve divergence in policy, from the future of Musharraf to the restoration of the judiciary.

"I don't think the parties of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto have reached any final agreement about forming a government," Tariq Azim, a ruling party leader, said Friday. "And if they do, it would be a marriage of convenience."

Sharif has been far sterner in demanding Musharraf's ouster and in seeking the reinstatement of the chief justice, one of dozens of independent-minded judges sacked by the president in November just as the Supreme Court was to rule on the legality of his re-election by parliament.

In what appeared to be a face-saving formula, Sharif told reporters that he and Zardari agreed in principle on restoration of the judges, but would leave it to parliament to sort out the details.

"In principle there's no disagreement on restoration of the judiciary. We will work on the modalities in parliament," he said.

A few hours earlier, Sharif had made an impassioned address to protesters at the Islamabad home of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, demanding his release and restoration to the court, which is now stacked with Musharraf appointees.

The party leaders did not make explicit whether they would push for Musharraf's removal, but Sharif reiterated his desire for the president to go.

"I think the nation today has given out its verdict and that verdict is amply clear, and it is from every nook and corner of Pakistan. He also understands that. The sooner he accepts the verdict the better it is for him," Sharif said.

Musharraf, a key ally of Washington in its war on terrorist groups, has said he has no intention of resigning and will serve out his five-year term.

However, many Pakistanis see Musharraf as a divisive figure whose continued presence could lead to political confrontation and destabilize the new government.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said it was up to the Pakistanis "to decide whether Musharraf retains his position." But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said U.S. officials also are telling opposition forces that moderates should work together to fight extremists and move toward democracy.

Last year, the U.S. and Britain pushed for rapprochement between Bhutto and Musharraf. The two held talks, paving the way for Bhutto's return from self-exile amid hopes they could form a pro-Western alliance and galvanize the campaign against the Taliban and al Qaeda.

The negotiations collapsed before Bhutto's December 27 assassination, but Zardari has not ruled out working with Musharraf.

One of the first tasks of the new government, which is expected to be installed by mid-March, will be determining how to fight Islamists. The country has been hit by dozens of deadly attacks blamed on Muslim militants in recent months.

Both opposition parties have considered negotiating with the extremists rather than relying on military force.


Zardari said the new government's first act will be to ask the United Nations for help in uncovering who was behind his wife's killing.

U.S. and Pakistani officials have accused Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud of masterminding the assassination, but many Pakistanis suspect Pakistani intelligence services may have been involved. E-mail to a friend

Pakistan's opposition parties reach agreement - CNN.com

 

[Neo]

Front-runner emerges as Pakistan P.M.​

Makhdoom Amin Fahim

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — A veteran politician with a reputation as a consensus builder emerged Friday as the favorite to become Pakistan's next prime minister under an agreement by the two biggest opposition parties to form a new government together.
Leaders of the Pakistan People's Party — once headed by assassinated ex-premier Benazir Bhutto — conferred today behind closed doors in Islamabad to discuss its choice to head the next government after the new parliament convenes, probably next month.

No final decision was made, but party officials and political analysts said the front-runner was veteran politician Makhdoom Amin Fahim, 68, a longtime Bhutto loyalist from Sindh province who turned down Musharraf's offer of the premiership in 2002.

The meeting comes the same day that a bomb killed at least 12 people and injured six children. It ripped through a truck carrying wedding guests in an area where al-Qaeda-linked militants operate. Police said most of the dead were women and their bodies quickly taken away by relatives.

No one claimed responsibility for Friday's bombing in Matta, in the Swat valley, where security forces have been battling Islamic militants. But police said a family dispute may have been to blame. Troops quickly cordoned off the area.

Front-runner emerges as Pakistan P.M. - USATODAY.com

 

[mujahideen]

Farooq Lehaghri wins from NA-172 DG Khan

DG Khan: Pakistan Muslim League (Q) candidate Farooq Leghari won the seat of NA-172 Dera Ghazi Khan with 44474 votes in the general elections held on February 18, according to an unofficial result announced Saturday.

The polling process was completed once again at polling station No. 235 in DG Khan for NA-172 where unofficial results said 1067 votes were cast. Polling at polling station No235 was undertaken again on the charges of rigging.

Sardar Farooq Leghari of PML-Q received 892 votes and his rival Hafiz Abdul Karim of PML-N 58 and Shabbir Leghari of Pakistan People’s Party 12 votes.

Sardar Farooq Leghari, as a result, received majority of votes (44474) to win from NA-172 DG Khan unofficially.

Farooq Lehaghri wins from NA-172 DG Khan

 

[Neo]

PPPP endorses Fahim, says NA to decide on judges ​

* PPPP MNAs vow end to presidential powers to dismiss assemblies
* Fahim says he declined earlier offers to become governor, PM​

ISLAMABAD: Elected members from the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) decided on Friday that Makhdoom Amin Fahim would be their candidate for prime minister and the National Assembly (NA) would decide the fate of the judges sacked on November 3, party sources said.

In a meeting at the Zardari House in Islamabad, they also vowed an end to the presidential powers to dismiss assemblies, a PPP press release said.

The party decided to address the removal of judges by President Pervez Musharraf on November 3 through a resolution in the NA. The resolution, they said, would give complete financial and administrative independence to the judiciary.

Amin Fahim: Amin Fahim told the meeting that General Ziaul Haq had offered to make him the governor of Punjab and President Pervez Musharraf had offered him the seat of prime minister, but he rejected the offers because of his commitment to democracy.

Zardari briefed the meeting on his contacts with other political parties to form a government of national consensus.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Finance Secretary Pervaiz Malik told Daily Times that his party would not accept anything short of the restoration of the sacked judges.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[sparten]

Amin Fahim is a friend of Musharrafs.

 

[BATMAN]

More women in Pakistan polls signals ‘political freedom’
By Muhammad Najeeb

Islamabad, Feb 23 (IANS) For the first time in Pakistan’s history, an increasing number of women stood for elections in Monday’s polls that also saw women coming out to vote in larger numbers - an encouraging trend signalling “freedom for women in politics”. While at few polling booths, women were barred from casting their votes, in other areas they polled in large numbers with encouragement from local jirgas or elder’s assembly.

In comparison to 1988, that only saw 27 women running for the general seats, this year the number increased by more than six times - to 168.
In 1988, four women were elected. This year, 13 will take oath in the National Assembly. In addition, hundreds of women registered themselves to contest for the 60 reserved seats in the National Assembly and 128 in the provincial assemblies, while 116 women contested for the 577 general seats in the four provinces.

As a conservative Muslim country with female literacy only being 35 percent, the Pakistan Election Commission had set up separate polling booths for women so that they come out to vote in larger numbers. Of the 80 million registered voters, about 36 million are women.

Waziristan and Kurran agency are two places where local jirgas had decided that women would not only be allowed but also encouraged to vote in the elections to elect 10th National Assembly.

“Women in our society work more than men, though their work is different… we believe they have rights,” Haji Umer Mehsood, who voted in general elections in 1997 for the first time after adult franchise in the tribal areas directly ruled by the federal government.

Before the 1997 polls, only senior members of different clans known as ‘Maliks’ were allowed to cast votes. However, just before the 1997 elections, the then caretaker government introduced reforms in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) electoral law.

“A week before the elections there was a jirga that said since the government is setting up women-only polling stations, the women should vote in the elections,” Mehsood told IANS.

He said though only 211 women voted in his constituency, he believes the numbers would increase in the future.

Women in some North West Frontier Province (NWFP) areas, tribal areas and Punjab were barred from voting in Monday’s general elections. Authorities have promised they would take action against those behind the move.

Mehsood said some of the candidates in tribal areas also transported women in vehicles to polling stations. “I think in the next three to four elections women will be polling just like men,” he said.

“I think this is good sign. These elections have signalled a greater degree of freedom for women in politics,” says Saima Karim, an activist for women rights.

She said it was very “heartening to know that a large number of women have participated in the elections and women in tribal areas went to vote”.

“It shows that the elders are willing to break with tradition and defy the dictates of militants,” Karim told IANS.

The reserved seats for women had lapsed in 1988 under the 1973 Constitution but President Pervez Musharraf not only revived these but also increased the number from 20 to 60.

Women participation in 2008 general elections will perhaps remains the most under reported story.
Pakistani media did not do their true job. They remained busy running anti Musharraf campaign, eventually confusing the public.

Idea was to confuse common man and let Zardari and Sharif overtake the elections with support of their few die hards.

World media will remain the sole reason for decreasing Musharraf popularity and turning the tables on him.

 

[mujahideen]

Nawaz, Shahbaz to contest by-polls: PML-N

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
By our vorrespondent

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Mian Shahbaz Sharif said he and Nawaz Sharif would contest by-polls.

Talking to media persons at his Defence Housing Authority residence here on Monday, he said they were considering from which constituency they would contest and that there are plenty of options.

He said the PPP in collaboration with the PML-N would form government in the Centre while the PML-N would form the government in Punjab likewise with the PPP. He said they were enjoying support of a significant number of independent candidates. The PML-Q forward bloc also wanted to cooperate with PML-N, he said.

He reiterated that they would restore the judiciary to pre-November 3 level and the 1973 Constitution. He said independents, including MPA Malik Waris, Malik Khuda Bakhsh Tiwana and Malik Asif had announced to join the PML-N.

Earlier, he demanded resignation of President Pervez Musharraf. Mian Shahbaz Sharif said the president should respect public mandate and quit power. He said that President Pervez Musharraf should prefer national interest to personal and let the politicians rule. "Pervez Musharraf shall immediately resign and declare that it is between public and the new rulers to decide future course of the country," he said.

Nawaz, Shahbaz to contest by-polls: PML-N

 

[mujahideen]

Former Pakistan PM to run for MP

Pakistan's former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, will stand for parliament in a by-election, a party spokesman says.
Mr Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party is currently in negotiations over joining a coalition government.

His party won the second highest number of seats in polls that last week delivered a huge blow to President Pervez Musharraf's allies.

Mr Sharif currently does not have a parliamentary seat and is ineligible to stand for PM.

He is also barred from being prime minister again because he has already held the office twice.

His party has already said it will ask its coalition partner to provide a PM.

The PML-N last week agreed to join a coalition headed by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which won the most seats in the parliamentary polls.

The PPP is widely expected to nominate its vice chairman and stalwart, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, as prime minister.

Like Mr Sharif, the PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari is not a member of parliament and therefore cannot be a candidate for PM.

He took over at the helm of the party after the assassination in December of his wife - another former Pakistani PM, Benazir Bhutto.

Tentative coalition

A spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said Mr Sharif and his brother were both planning to take part in by-elections.

"Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif will contest by-elections," Siddiqul Farooq told the AFP news agency.

"There is no dearth of vacant seats and the Sharifs can contest by-elections without any problem."

Several by-elections are expected to be held in the next few weeks.

Many details of the coalition between the PML-N and PPP have yet to be worked out and the two parties have a long history of mutual mistrust.

Blow to Musharraf

Mr Sharif and his brother had been banned from taking direct part in general elections because of a series of criminal convictions dating back to 1999, when a military coup brought President Musharraf to power.

The former prime minister returned from exile in Saudi Arabia late last year to lead his party's poll battle.

He has been deeply critical of President Musharraf and says he wants "to rid Pakistan of dictatorship forever".

The new coalition is seen as a threat to Mr Musharraf and may use its parliamentary clout to unseat him.

The president was re-elected late last year in a parliamentary vote boycotted by the opposition as unconstitutional.

He has been a major US ally in the "war on terror" but his popularity has waned at home amid accusations of authoritarianism and incompetence.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Former Pakistan PM to run for MP

 

[mujahideen]

JUI-F may join national government, says Fazl

* JUI-F CEC blames party chief for poll defeat

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Wednesday that, if invited, his party might join a government of national consensus.

“I favour restoration of the judiciary and hope that the next coalition government will fulfil the promises it has made to the people,” Fazl told reporters at the residence of Senator Talha Mehmood.

Fazl, who is also the general secretary of the religious alliance, admitted that a rift in the MMA had led to its defeat in the elections.

However, he said that the MMA would be revived, adding that two senior leaders, Prof Sajid Mir and Allama Sajid Naqvi, had met with him for this purpose.

Fazl blamed: Fazl’s statement came as the JUI-F Central Executive Council (CEC) criticised him for his pro-Musharraf stance “that inflicted a crushing defeat on the party in the polls.”

JUI-F CEC members at a meeting suggested that they should sit on opposition benches in the next government.

A source said some members were critical of party bosses’ decision to ally with the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) in the previous government. “A large number of CEC members were of the view that they should not get involved in power politics,” the source said.

JUI-F leader Akram Durrani said the CEC would decide on whether or not to accept the PPP’s “invitation to join governments in Islamabad and Peshawar” by today (Thursday).

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[mujahideen]

Clean bill of health for Pakistan elections

* Voter lists should have been based on national identity card database: Democracy Int’l

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Democracy International, which sent a 38-member election observer delegation to Pakistan at the request of the US State Department to monitor the February 18 elections, has given a clean bill of health, despite shortfalls, to the national electoral exercise.

At a discussion held at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, a senior official of Democracy International, which has monitored elections in 25 countries, said there was no systematic attempt at manipulation of results, as some had feared. “To date, there appears to be broad acceptance of the results. ... However, the serious assault on Pakistan’s constitutional order and fundamental flaws in the pre-election environment prevented the election from meeting international standards and must be addressed if progress towards a democratic Pakistan is to continue,” he said.

Database: The Democracy International official was critical of the Election Commission for having redone the voters’ lists, on the basis of those drawn up in 2002, whereas the revised lists should have been based on the national identity card database. He said Democracy International would issue its full report in April.

The discussion session was also addressed by Marvin Weinbaum, one of the observers sent out by Democracy International, Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi and Hassan Abbas, a former Pakistani police official who is now a scholar at Harvard. Weinbaum called the election historic and likened it in terms of public enthusiasm to the 1970 elections.

The sympathy vote for the PPP was also a factor in producing the results that the electoral exercise did. Bread and butter issues also figured large. He said the US wanted “heat off Musharraf” but the results “burnt him severely”. He pointed out that the US had failed to appreciate the transition, which was taking place in Pakistan.

“The process of change is beyond Musharraf’s control and if Washington continues to see Musharraf as ‘indispensable’, it will be disappointed because the Pakistani leader is becoming ‘increasingly irrelevant’,” Weinbaum said.

Nor should the US be seen as meddle some. On the other hand, it should stay out because every time it had tried to help, things had worked out the other way. He said congratulations being offered to Musharraf for holding free and fair elections were like a thief being thanked for not robbing the bank.

He said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is an “unknown” but he is “grooming himself to become prime minister”. PPP Vice President Makhdoom Amin Faheem was a party loyalist who was lacking in charisma, he said. Eventually, he predicted, Zardari would make a “grab for power”.

Prof Rizvi said, “The elections are a major success for democratic forces. The decline of Islamist parties had brought the situation in Pakistan back to normal, although they would still play a role as a pressure group.”

The new government would be challenged by societal groups that would wish a reversal of the constitutional changes made by the president. He did not think that the next government and the president would be able to work together for very long. There was bound to be a clash.

Either President Musharraf would go or the entire system would come crashing down. Given the style of governance to which the president had become used to, he would find it hard to work with the elected government. Rizvi felt that the ideal thing would be for President Musharraf to resign.

Abbas told the meeting that the success of the ruling party in Balochistan was ‘suspect’. The Pakistani establishment, because of Gwadar, the Taliban presence in the province and the US-led war on terror, may have decided to take steps to retain control of the province. He said he could not see how the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) could have won in Balochistan, of all places, when it had lost everywhere else.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[mujahideen]

Elections the best Pakistan has ever had: observer

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Thomas George Houlahan, a senior fellow with Center for Security and Science, on Washington said the elections were the “best Pakistan has ever had”.

Speaking at a function held to launch the final report of Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), he said the recent elections were even better than those held in western countries. Houlahan said the presence of local and international observers and the monitoring by media contributed towards transparent elections. “Due to the steps taken by President Pervez Musharraf and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the elections were held fairly. Now it is up to the new government to take the country to the path of progress and prosperity,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, ECP Secretary Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad said the country needed reforms in electoral laws to keep nazims away from influencing the electoral process, especially during the conduct of polls. He said Pakistan had sped up reform process in the electoral laws with the help of civil society organizations, political parties, bar council and the media, as had been done in India and Bangladesh.

Dilshad said the media had played a crucial and positive role and the recent elections would bring the country on a par with the “first world” democracies.“The election has laid the foundation for a true and strong democracy in the country. This would help make the country a progressive, democratic and prosperous state,” he said.

CMD Chairman Ayub Munir urged the ECP and the judiciary to take appropriate and immediate action on all the complaints lodged by the loosing candidates with substantial proof of alleged irregularities in the polling process.The CMD in its election report asked the ECP to update voters’ lists in coordination with the NADRA.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Neo]

Bush govt distancing itself from Musharraf: New Pakistani govt in two weeks: Negroponte​

WASHINGTON, Feb 28: The United States believed that Pakistan would have a democratically-elected government in the next two weeks, US Secretary of State John Negroponte told a congressional panel on Thursday.

“I spoke with (US) Ambassador (Anne W.) Patterson this morning and she predicted that the new government will be formed within the next couple of weeks, perhaps sooner,” the second-ranking US diplomat told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“We cannot tell the precise colouration or individuals” who will be included in this government but “we hope that they will be inclined towards moderation,” said Mr Negroponte. “We hope we will be able to work with them as well as, if not better than, we have worked with those in the past.”

The United States, he said, would offer to help the new government fight extremists and hoped that they would accept the offer.

Senator Richard Lugar, who was recently in Pakistan to monitor the elections along with Senators John Kerry and Joseph Biden, told Mr Negroponte that the Pakistani media were expressing concerns over the delay in calling the new parliament and asked him to say when he thought the first session of the new assembly would be held.

The State Department official noted that the election results needed to be certified before the parliament met but repeated his earlier assurance that Islamabad would have a new government in the next two weeks. The United States, he said, hoped that the political process would go forward in a way that the current situation could not be exploited by the enemies of democracy, including terrorists.

For the first time since the Feb 18 elections, Mr Negroponte also signalled the Bush administration’s desire to distance itself from President Pervez Musharraf. “We look forward to working with the new government in every way possible,” said the senior US diplomat when a senator told him that the media in Pakistan still believed that Washington was supporting President Musharraf.

Mr Negroponte said that Pakistan, and not President Musharraf, was “indispensable” to the fight against terror.

Pakistan, he said, was important not only as an ally in the war against terror but also in its own right and the United States needed to make other friendly nations aware of Pakistan’s importance.

“We also need in our dialogue to draw their attention to the importance of Pakistan, in addition to whatever help they are giving to Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said.

Senator Kerry reminded Mr Negroponte that Pakistan’s newly elected leaders wanted to engage militant leaders like Baitullah Mehsud. Calling it “a recipe for disaster,” Mr Kerry asked Mr Negroponte how Washington would respond to such a dialogue.

“Whatever might be said, there is no sympathy for militant extremism,” said Mr Negroponte. “I believe that political actors in Pakistan want to deal with them, and not give them a freeway.”

Bush govt distancing itself from Musharraf: New Pakistani govt in two weeks: Negroponte -DAWN - Top Stories; February 29, 2008

 

[mujahideen]

Shujaat casts doubts on fate of incumbent assemblies

ISLAMABAD, Feb 29 (APP): President Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain Friday cast doubts on the fate of the present assemblies, saying that he would give the date for next elections after two months time.I will give you the date for next elections after two months,” he told the media after having a detailed meeting with PPP-Sherpao Chief Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao at his residence.
Shujaat said he had called on Sherpao and both the parties had decided to sit on the opposition benches in the National Assembly.

To a question regarding impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, Shujaat brushed aside such a possibility, saying that there was no solid reason for the President’s impeachment.

“Why should the president be impeached? Who can forget the services he has rendered for the homeland and its people during the past eight years. Should such a person be impeached as Nawaz Sharif has enmity with him? No way,” he said.

Shujaat said both the leaders had discussed the future strategy at length. He said the law and order situation in NWFP was a sensitive matter and even the country’s sovereignty banked on NWFP.

“We want to resolve the issues of WANA and other tribal areas. We would stay in the opposition and prove that if politicians are sincere, they can contribute in national development process,” he said.

Aftab Sherpao said his party had decided to support the new government in NWFP unconditionally but he would head his party in the National Assembly in the opposition.

He said his party was in consensus with the PML on major issues, however, he said there were some issues over which his party had a independent stance.

To a question, Sherpao said his four MPAs had met PPP Chief Asif Zardari with his consent and there was no discipline issue in his party.

“My party has offered unconditional support to the new government in NWFP in larger public interest so as they could resolve issues being faced by the people. If the new government wants to resolve issues like Swat through dialogue, we would support them,” he said.

Sherpao ruled out possibility of merger of his party with PPP, saying,”question does not arise of our party’s merger with PPP. We had left the party on principles and we are supporting them in public interest. My party would adopt an independent stance on each issue.”

Commenting over his party’s support to President Musharraf, Sherpao said his party had voted in support to the president and he has been elected for five years.

When PPP-S Chief was asked to comment on ANP’s move to change the name of NWFP, Sherpao said he had moved a resolution to change the name of the province some years back and his party would support such a move.

PML Central Vice President Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani, PML Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed and PML President Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim assisted Ch. Shujaat Hussain during the talks while Senator Anisazeb Tahirkheli assisted Aftab Sherpao.

app - Shujaat casts doubts on fate of incumbent assemblies