| 2007
Pakistan Election: Pakistan govt plans to ban political
rallies: 22
Oct 2007, 1652 hrs
ISLAMABAD:
The Pakistan government on Monday rejected former premier
Benazir Bhutto's demand to seek international
help to probe the suicide attack on her motorcade and
said it plans to impose a ban on rallies before the general
election, sparking an angry reaction from opposition parties.
Interior
Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao dismissed
Bhutto's call to involve foreign agencies
in the probe into the two blasts in Karachi that killed
nearly 140 people on Thursday night, saying Pakistani
authorities have "excellent and experienced investigators"
who can handle the investigation.
The
Pakistani investigators are fully capable of conducting
the probe and the government "completely rejected" the
demand by Bhutto's Pakistan People's
Party to bring in foreign experts, he told reporters here.
Bhutto
had said on Sunday in Karachi that her party wanted the
government to seek international assistance in the probe.
Sherpao also said the government plans to ban election
rallies on security grounds.
The
administration has prepared a "comprehensive code of conduct"
to regulate activities during the campaign for the general
election due in mid-January, he said. Political parties
and their leaders will soon be taken into confidence on
this code of conduct, one of the key features of which
is a ban on political rallies and processions, Sherpao
said.
There
will be no ban on public meetings but these will have
to be held by parties only at specified places. No party
or leader would be allowed to organise processions or
rallies before a public meeting, Sherpao
said. His comments provoked an angry reaction from the
PPP and the PML-N party of former prime minister Nawaz
Sharif, who plans to return from exile in November
to lead his party in the election campaign.
A
PPP spokesperson said the party would defy the government
move as rallies are an "essential part" of any election
campaign to reach out to the people. The PML-N termed
the move as a "plan" to ensure that the election favour
President Pervez Musharraf.
"Musharraf
wants to impose this ban on rallies to stop popular opposition
leaders from reaching their voters before the parliamentary
elections," PML-N leader Sadiq ul-Farooq
said.
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Elections,
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