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Change Your Life! |
Musharraf takes polls path |
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March 24, 2000
Islamabad,
Mar 23: Pakistan's military ruler on Thursday announced nationwide local
elections - considered a first step toward a return to democracy, reports
AP. General
Pervez Musharraf’s promise came two days before US President Bill
Clinton is scheduled to visit Pakistan, where he is expected to press the
military ruler for a timeframe for general elections. Musharraf
has rebuffed international pressure to return Pakistan to democracy
quickly, saying the task ahead is onerous. But Thursday, he said the first
round of local elections will be held between December and May, 200l. A
second round of local elections - at the district level - will be held in
July 2001, effectively putting municipal governments back in power. "We
want to empower the impoverished, the people at the grass
root level, " Musharraf told a news conference in the federal
capital. "Democracy
starts here at the district and local governments," he said.
"From here we will move up step by step to provincial and federal
(elections) in due course of time." The
army chief toppled Pakistan's elected government in a bloodless coup fast
October, accusing officials of corruption and power mongering that
crippled institutions and alienated smaller provinces. Musharraf’s
scheme for staggered local elections also involves a complete
restructuring to give a greater voice to the village level, where councils
are referred to as union councils.
In
Pakistan's rough and tumble politics, the wealthiest generally dominate
politics and dictate that the poorest should vote for. Union
councils, to be elected between December and May 2001, will have 26 seats-
10 reserved for women, four for peasants and workers and one for minority
religious groups. At
the district level, the 66 seat councils will include 50 general seats,
which can be contested by men and women, as well as 10 seats reserved for
women, three for workers and peasants and three for minorities. But
before holding the local elections, the army-led government says it wants
to revise a 20-year-old electoral list and make new identity cards that
can’t easily be forged. "We
have to create a new electoral role. They are all bogus. They have been
manipulated and distorted." Musharraf told reporters. "No one
has any faith in them." Musharraf
previously referred to ousted Premier Nawaz Sharif’s government as a
"sham democracy" and vowed that the next time an elected
government takes power in Pakistan it will be through a "real
democracy." The
army's anti-corruption bureau, established by Musharraf, says it has
recovered dlrs 1 billion in-unpaid bank loans and money stolen by corrupt
politicians and bureaucrats. The anti-corruption bureau was given sweeping powers to arrest, detain and cl1arge tl1ose suspected of corruption. Sharif is in jail in southern Karachi on charges of hijacking, attempted murder, kidnapping and terrorism. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death. Source: The Daily Star |