The Pakistani Prime Minister Designate's election in Thar, Sindh

[SRC <psrc@HYD.PAKNET.COM.PK>]

[Ed. note: some weeks ago, I posted an account of how a non-Sindhi
carpetbagger, designated as the next Prime Minister by the dictator
Gen. Musharraf was running in an area where the majority of the
residents, and 48% of registered voters, are Hindu Sindhis.  He has
"won" the election with some help from his friends..].

>From: "SRC" <psrc@hyd.paknet.com.pk>

Court Petition Filed:

HYDERABAD, Pakistan, Aug 23: People's Party Parliamentarians leaders
on Monday filed a joint petition in the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad
circuit, to seek registration of an FIR against some police officers
and polling officials... Ayaz Latif Palijo advocate represented the
petitioners.

They alleged that petitioners 1 and 2 (Ms Palijo and Mr
Jameeluzzaman), who were nominated as polling agents by their party,
were tortured, humiliated and illegally arrested by police officials
on the instigation of the woman presiding officer of the polling
station. They further alleged that Ms Palijo was dragged inside the
polling station and then she and Mr Lohar were thrown into a police
mobile in presence of hundreds of people. The petitioners accused the
returning officer, additional district judge of Mithi, of using
offensive language against them.

The petitioners further alleged that Ms Sassui Palijo witnessed on the
election day that poling staff filled ballot boxes with fake
votes. The petitioners stated that on their objection, the respondents
and two woman constables, on the instigation of the district nazim
[mayor], pointed guns at them, issued death threats and assaulted Ms
Palijo. They said later some respondents tried to kidnap Ms Palijo
from the house of Essa Rahimoon.  They said when the petitioners talked
to the [police officials] for legal action, they refused to do
anything and issued them death threats.

They said they were illegally confined for five hours. They said when
the DPO, along with police personnel, pushed Ms Palijo and Mr Lohar
into a private jeep, a team of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
and a BBC reporter were also present. The petitioners said on Aug 17,
a day before the polls, while they were on their way to Mithi, they
were detained at gunpoint for four hours at the Wango check-post. They
said they escaped from the illegal confinement of police and reached
Mithi but police traced them and harassed Ms Palijo, who was compelled
to leave Mithi in the night.

Daily Times: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/
Daily Dawn: http://www.dawn.com/2004/08/24/nat6.htm
Daily Awami Awaz: http://www.awamiawaz.com/archives/24-08-2004/index.html
Daily Nation: http://www.nation.com.pk/

[Meanwhile the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan observed:
Excerpted from DAWN - the Internet Edition
21 August 2004  Saturday

What happened in Tharparkar?

By Asma Jahangir

There was hardly an element of surprise in the election victory of
prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz, especially after the several
reports of pre-poll fixing. There was however some expectation of fair
play on the day of the ballot since Mr Aziz's election was a foregone
conclusion and there was no need for any fixing. Sadly, even this
pretence was not kept and malpractices as well as rigging were all
too apparent...

Election-watching can be a great learning experience. Everyone has an
opinion. There is movement and people around the main cities/towns are
often seen discussing electoral prospects.

This was not the case in NA 229, Tharparkar 1. The only people seen
parading in the streets of Mithi were armed plainclothes men
brandishing rifles in a dead city. On enquiry we learnt they were
police constables.

According to official sources, some 2,500 police along with Rangers
were brought to Tharparkar for security reasons...

On the face of it there were no fears of any breach of security. The
official candidate was not expected to be there and the opponents were
huddled in a corner. Nobody was whispering or willing to share any
views. They all pretended that it was just another ordinary day...

The HRCP team was told in whispers that those who opposed the Arbabs
[feudal lord backed by Pakistan who is now Chief Minister of Sindh] in
2002 were still hurting from the bruises they suffered at the hand of
their henchmen. It was reported to the team that 1,100 FIRs were filed
against political opponents...

Prior to the elections, the chief minister and his associates had made
public statements intimidating their opponents in various ways.   For
example, Hamid Singh, son of Rana Chandar Singh, was reported on Aug 6
to have said that anyone attending the PPP meeting would get their
legs broken.

The Sindh chief minister reportedly magnanimously said to the press
that he had allowed his opponent to file papers for contesting against
the future prime minister whereas he had the power to get him out of
the way...

Amongst the 251,579 registered voters in NA-229, some 48 per cent
belong to the Hindu community. They have suffered at the hands of a
separate electorate system put in place by the former military
dictator for over a decade...

The PPP candidate, Dr. Mahesh Kumar, is a Hindu Brahmin, who does not
believe in the untouchability of other castes. A number of individuals
and groups of the Hindu community secretly admitted to members of the
HRCP team that given a free choice, they would naturally vote for one
of their own, rather than a candidate they had never heard of and knew
little about.

A large number admitted that they would rather boycott than vote
against their own member of the community. Eventually some optimists
concluded that the fact that a Hindu was able to contest these
elections gave them sufficient pride and courage. Regrettably, no
Pakistani can claim the same for the future prime minister, ..

Sindhi nationalists expressed their discomfort at being coerced into
voting for a non-Sindhi. Those that managed to slip away did not
vote. The HRCP team calculated that despite all the machinery at work,
the turnout could not have reached beyond 40 per cent.

There are numerous examples of rising percentages of the turnout in
the last hour of polling. One such example was witnessed by me at a
polling station number 58 (Yousaf Somroo) where by 10:45 am polling in
the women's booth was seven per cent and had reached 23 per cent by
3.30 p.m. but had increased to 65 per cent in half an hour when there
were no women in sight.

A similar pattern was seen by all five teams of the HRCP. Four teams
witnessed the polling agents of Mr Shaukat Aziz stamping ballot papers
in full view of the public... In at least six polling stations, the
percentage of the turnout of women voters was higher than of men...
This despite the fact that only a few women were actually visible
around the polling station. A number of people were seen with multiple
ID cards in their hands while waiting for their turn to vote
abundantly. There were also reports of child voters who had also
helped themselves while the going was good...

There are apprehensions that reprisals will take place after the
elections are over. Time and again people quietly approached members
of the HRCP to watch out for post-election repression.

Independent observers also witnessed the rigging of these "historic"
elections...

The writer headed the HRCP team that observed the Tharparkar by election.
]