Pakistan parties want poll timetable

Protesters were out in force on the streets of Lahore on Sunday

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) -- Most Pakistani political parties, including former arch rivals, launched a concerted challenge on Sunday to the country's military ruler and demanded an immediate timetable for free national elections.

An All-Parties Conference (APC) attended by 40 political parties and other groups also rejected military ruler General Pervez Musharraf's plan to organize local council elections by mid-2001 before national elections and called for an immediate end to restrictions on political activity.

A declaration issued after a noisy meeting lasting nearly 10 hours accused Musharraf's military-led government of mishandling Pakistan's economic crisis, failing to enforce law and order, bringing the country's image to its "lowest ebb" and suppressing the political process.

It said only an elected government could "control the situation" and demanded that "a timetable be framed immediately for free elections to the national and provincial assemblies wherein participation of all political parties is ensured so that the elected representatives form the new assemblies."

The APC was convened by a 15-party alliance led by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Its other most important participant was the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

It was the first face-to-face meeting between the traditional rivals PPP and PML and the largest gathering of politicians since Musharraf toppled Sharif and seized power in a bloodless coup last October 12.

At least four groups, including the Islamic fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami party, walked out before the APC voted on the declaration.

Protesters lobbed eggs and tomatoes at politicians, Sunday

Before the start of the conference, a group of about 150 protesters hurled rotten tomatoes and eggs at the cars of some politicians as they arrived for the meeting at a hotel in Lahore, capital of the populous Punjab province.

Witnesses said the protesters belonged to two groups that described themselves as the "Support Pakistan Armed Forces Movement" and the "Save Pakistan Movement" that accused politicians of misrule.

Besides the two mainstream rivals, the APC also brought such diverse political groups as Islamic clerics and secularists, regional nationalists and strong centrists on a single platform for a restoration of democracy.

The meeting came eight days before Musharraf is to unveil what he calls a devolution of power plan to set up elected local councils by mid-2001.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Pakistan People's Party
Pakistan Muslim League (unofficial site)
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
CIA -- The World Factbook 1999 -- Pakistan

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