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Pakistan's Religious Alliance May Split Over Election Boycott
By Khalid Qayum and Khaleeq Ahmed
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan's biggest opposition alliance of religious parties may split over whether to boycott January's parliamentary elections to protest President Pervez Musharraf's rule.
``If we are unable to resolve differences over boycotting or taking part in the elections, the alliance may split up,'' said Fareed Piracha, a spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami, the second-biggest member of the religious alliance, which supports former premier Nawaz Sharif's plan to boycott elections. ``It will be decided on Dec. 9 whether we split or remain intact.''
Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal, a six-party religious alliance, was the biggest opposition group in the previous 342-member parliament, which completed its term on Nov. 15. Jamiat Ulema-e- Islam, the biggest party in the alliance, plans to contest the elections, its chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman has said.
A total of 48 political parties have applied for election symbols which will be allotted on Dec. 9, according to a statement released late yesterday by the Islamabad-based Election Commission. If the two religious parties get separate symbols, the Islamist alliance will split, Piracha said.
Parties are given election symbols so they can be identified by voters on ballot paper.
Pakistan's religious parties, which formed governments in the North West Frontier Province and the western province of Baluchistan after the 2002 elections, oppose the U.S.-led war on terrorism. They won enough seats to lead the opposition for the first time in Pakistan's history after Musharraf supported the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Fighting Militants
Nuclear-armed Pakistan has been fighting Taliban and al- Qaeda militants in the areas bordering Afghanistan since 2003. Pakistan has received $10 billion in aid from the U.S. since 2001 for its support for the war on terrorism.
Former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Sharif yesterday began talks to agree on a list of demands that Musharraf needs to meet to avoid an opposition boycott of parliamentary elections. Musharraf said last week he will lift the state of emergency on Dec. 16 and called on all parties to take part in the ballot.
Musharraf suspended the constitution on Nov. 3 and fired judges while imposing emergency rule as the Supreme Court was about to rule on his eligibility for a second presidential term. A new panel of Supreme Court judges, all appointed by the president, rejected the legal challenges to his re-election on Nov. 22.
``The main issue for the charter of demand will be how to make the electoral process transparent, without which it will be difficult to participate,'' Ahsan Iqbal, spokesman for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said yesterday. The charter could include demands to release political prisoners, lift media curbs and reinstate judges, he said.
Charter of Demands
``An eight-member committee will prepare a charter of demands and present it to the government with a timeframe,'' Sharif had said at the joint news conference with Bhutto in the capital, Islamabad, early yesterday. ``If the charter is not met, we will then go toward a boycott. We don't want to boycott, but we will be forced to if the demands are not met.''
It was the first meeting between the two former prime ministers since they returned from exile to prepare for the elections.
The return of Bhutto and Sharif is ``good for political reconciliation,'' Musharraf, 64, said in a televised speech last week after stepping down as army chief and taking the presidential oath as a civilian Nov. 29.
``We both agree that in the present conditions, elections can't be free and fair,'' Bhutto had said at the news conference. ``Our charter will be ready in the next two or three days and will tell the government what constitutes a fair election. If our demands are not met, then public pressure must be mounted.''
Sharif Barred
Sharif was barred by the Election Commission on Dec. 3 from contesting the ballot from the eastern city of Lahore. His application was rejected on the grounds that he was convicted of hijacking in 2000.
Sharif, 57, said he won't appeal against the decision because he doesn't accept judges appointed under emergency rule.
Bhutto, 54, who leads the Pakistan Peoples Party, the main opposition group, said she has evidence the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam plans to rig voting.
Sharif was prime minister from 1990 to 1993 and from 1997 to 1999, when Musharraf ousted him in a military coup. He was convicted of corruption and treason and sentenced to 14 years in prison after the coup. Musharraf pardoned him in a 2000 accord under which Sharif agreed to live in exile in Saudi Arabia for 10 years. Sharif said he agreed to five years in exile.
He was arrested and sent back to Saudi Arabia when he flew to Islamabad in September. Sharif was allowed to remain in Pakistan when he returned Nov. 25.
Bhutto, who returned from eight years in self-imposed exile in October, became the first woman prime minister of a Muslim state in 1988. She served as Pakistan's prime minister twice between 1988 and 1996.
To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad, Pakistan on [email protected] Khaleeq Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan on [email protected] ;
Last Updated: December 5, 2007 02:47 EST
Bloomberg.com: Asia
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