Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Thursday warned the Pakistan government against rigging the forthcoming parliamentary polls, saying such a move would lead to a country-wide movement by opposition parties.
Bhutto said her Pakistan People's Party "wanted a peaceful transition to democracy through fair and free elections and with this end in view, had decided to participate in the elections under protest".
"However, the scheme of rigging that had been devised by the regime had forced the opposition parties to plan a movement in case their demands for free and fair polls are not met," she told reporters during a visit to the Golra Sharif shrine near Islamabad.
The opposition parties, Bhutto said, were drawing up a charter of demands for impartial polls and would give the military regime a date by which to implement it. She said if the demands are not met and the rigging plan is pursued, the opposition parties would launch a massive movement against it.
Bhutto said the military regime initially wanted to run away from the polls by imposing emergency but had to set a date for the general election under great international pressure. "It has therefore now drawn up plans to rig the polls," she alleged.
In reply to a question, Bhutto said she thought that the issue of reinstating Supreme Court judges sacked under emergency rule should be decided by the next parliament. The PPP's differences with former premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party on this issue has held up the framing of the charter of demands to ensure free and fair polls. Bhutto also condemned the government's move to deprive sacked judges of their right to a pension.
