Pakistan election campaign intensifies as Musharraf accused of wanting docile premier

December 24th, 2007 Aimon · No Comments

SUKKUR, Pakistan: Pakistan’s election campaign intensified Monday with the three top political leaders rallying supporters across the country just two weeks before a parliamentary election decides the future of this key U.S. ally.

The Jan. 8 polls, demanded by Pakistan’s Western allies, are seen as a crucial step in restoring democracy here after Musharraf’s Nov. 3 declaration of emergency rule and his crackdown on the judiciary, political opponents and the independent media. Musharraf lifted the state of emergency after six weeks.

Former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who both returned from exile for the campaign, scheduled rallies in their opponents’ home districts Monday in an effort to poach voters. Both candidates, pledging to work together against Musharraf, were hoping to win enough seats to loosen the former army chief’s grip on power.

Speaking to 3,000 people in the town of Sukkur, in Bhutto’s home province of Sindh, Sharif accused Musharraf of presiding over a worsening economy and sparking violent confrontations across the country.

“The country is soaked in blood and fire from Khyber to Karachi,” said Sharif, who has been banned from running for office himself, but was addressing voters on behalf of his party’s candidates.

He also accused Musharraf of fealty to the United States, and said the president’s dismissal of top judges turned the country into an international laughingstock.

Sadiq ul-Farooq, a leader of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party, said Musharraf “would prefer a docile prime minister to legitimize all of the actions he had taken after imposing emergency rule,” ul-Farooq said.

“Only people like Pervez Elahi can serve in this job,” he said, referring to the candidate of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

On Monday, Bhutto told a rally in the southern city of Rahim Yar Khan in Sharif’s eastern Punjab province that she would create more jobs, provide loans, alleviate poverty and allot land to the homeless people.

“I am fighting this war for the rights of the masses,” she said.

Elahi campaigned Monday in the city of Jehlum, near his home district.

On Sunday, Bhutto accused Musharraf’s government of failing to crush Islamic militants, days after a suicide bombing killed 56 people during prayers in a mosque in the northwest.

Hours after Bhutto spoke, a suicide bomb attack on a military convoy killed five civilians and four soldiers in Pakistan’s troubled northwest, an army statement said. It said 13 civilians and 10 soldiers were also wounded.

Though Pakistan is a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have extended their influence over parts of the northwest in the past two years, and have launched numerous suicide attacks in recent months.

On Monday, Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz told reporters in the capital, Islamabad that Musharraf still faced death threats from al-Qaida, although he did not give any evidence to back up his claim. Musharraf has survived at least three attacks in recent years, most blamed on al-Qaida.

The government was providing security during the election campaign to top opposition leaders, he said.

On Friday a suicide bomber, apparently targeting former Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, blew himself up in a village mosque. Sherpao said the blast killed 56 people. As interior minister, Sherpao — now a candidate in the election — helped lead the government’s fight against militantants.