In a major development, the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and the All Pakistan Democratic Movement on Monday night decided to give the government a ‘Charter of Demands’ to ensure free, fair and transparent elections in the country.“We have decided to present the Charter of Demands to the government. If the government accepts our demands, all opposition parties will participate in the elections, otherwise they will resort to boycott,” said former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif while addressing a joint press conference at the Zardari House here following a marathon meeting of the two alliances that lasted about three and half an hours.Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Raja Zafarul Haq, Mehmood Khan Achackzai, Liaquat Baloch and Hasil Khan Bizenjo were also present at the press conference. Earlier, Nawaz Sharif along with the APDM leaders arrived at the Zardari House and held the meeting with Benazir Bhutto to convince her to join the APDM decision to boycott the elections.At the press conference, Mian Nawaz Sharif announced that an 8-member committee would be constituted comprising Mian Raza Rabbani, Dr Safdar Abbassi, Naveed Malik, Abdul Qadeer Khamosh from the ARD and Senator Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal, Abdul Rahim Mandokhel and Professor Khursheed Ahmed from the APDM.“The committee has been tasked to start work from Tuesday morning and complete the Charter of Demands within two to three days so that it can be presented before the government,” Nawaz said.Benazir Bhutto said the ARD and the APDM discussed many points and agreed that the elections could not be free, fair and transparent under the present circumstances. She said Hasil Khan Bizenjo told the meeting that how in Balochistan pre-poll rigging has started as a few months back the government has taken the names from the ruling party for the appointment of returning officers of their choice in their constituencies.Replying to a question, Benazir said they did not want postponement of the polls. She rather stressed that the elections should be held on January 8. She said the Charter of Demands is being presented to the government to ensure that free, fair and transparent elections are held.Nawaz Sharif said the opposition did not want to boycott the elections but if the Charter of Demands was not accepted by the government, they would be forced to stay away from the polls. He said; “The rejection of my nomination papers exposed the ‘fairness’ of the elections.” He, however, added that he never gives precedence to personal matters over the national cause. Benazir said the government has accepted many of their demands such as fixing elections for January 8, announcing the date of lifting of emergency, and retirement of General Musharraf as chief of the Army staff. However, several issues remain unresolved as the (deposed) chief justice and other justices are still under arrest, Aitzaz Ahsan’s detention is extended, curbs on the media are still there and one of the biggest TV channels, Geo, is still not allowed to go on the air in the country. “These remaining issues are the reason that we have decided to forward the Charter of Demands to the government,” she added. When asked whether both the big parties would unite in the post-election scenario, Benazir said both the parties met for a joint step towards road to democracy and continue to take joint steps for the revival of democracy. “It was a major confidence-building measure between the two parties that will continue in future,” she added. She said if the elections were rigged, the people of Pakistan have the power to bring about an Orange Revolution like in Ukraine.Benazir said she told the APDM that if the opposition parties did not take part in the elections, the government would not need to rig the polls. She said to expose the government’s rigging plan they have to participate in the elections. The APDM, she said, briefed her on its apprehensions about the elections. Nawaz said they discussed post-November 3 developments. He said his party believed that the elections under the present government could not be free and fair.He said during the meeting, the PPP chief and he discussed the ins and outs of Charter of Demands which would be presented to the government. He said the government would be given a certain deadline to accept their demands.Nawaz said, “If the government fails to accede to our demands, we will be forced to think that the upcoming elections cannot be free and transparent and thus opt for boycott of the polls.” Both the former prime ministers opined that Pakistan’s nuclear assets are safer during democracy rather than dictatorship.
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