Pakistan People's Party (PPP) on Tuesday threatened to sue Musharraf-led regime in courts for 'fresh and irrefutable' evidences it claimed to have gathered to expose plans of manipulating next month parliamentary polls.
The warning came a day after the beleaguered president reportedly threatened to end a 'fragile clemency' to party leaders in 'temporarily frozen but revocable' corruption charges. Musharraf issued an order in October last year to pardon slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and some of her aides for corruption they had allegedly committed during their two short stints of power in 80s and 90s.
Tagged as the National Reconciliation Order (NRO), the ordinance is still to be ratified by the parliament and Musharraf can take it back early next month when the promulgation is exhausted its limit. A media report on Monday suggested he was going to do this if the PPP didn't shun opposition to him.
But the party seems to have different intentions. "Going to courts (against rigging plans by Musharraf) is an option now," said Senator Latif Khosa. He is the head of a cell within PPP that was tasked by slain party chairperson Benazir Bhutto to gather proofs of Musharraf making attempts to rig elections in favour of his allied politicians.
The PPP had been campaigning to sensitise election authorities to alleged rigging but never threatened the regime with litigation because it didn't expect much from the superior judiciary Musharraf handpicked after removing Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on November 3 last year. "But now," Khosa told a news conference, "the party is considering this."
After a top association for anti-Musharraf and pro-democracy lawyers had announced an end to its almost three-month boycott to courts, the PPP had decided to give it a try, he added.
CEC MUST RETIRE Khosa said the cell he was heading had already sent to the top election official several hundreds complaints of official machinery being used for the electioneering of Musharraf's allies-the contenders from Pakistan Muslim League-Quid (PML-Q).
These complaints, the senator added, included registration of fake criminal cases against PPP candidates and their harassment by administrative officials. He also mentioned the transfers of district police chiefs in Sindh and Punjab provinces after the announcement of election schedule back in November.
Such steps are not allowed under the constitution, he said quoting from the green book. He then demanded for the resignations of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) if he was not able to stop all this. "If the CEC cannot do this, why doesn't he step down?" he asked.
AMIR'S DISQUALIFICATION The PPP senator also questioned on constitutional grounds the appointment of former Speaker National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain as acting president for a week during Musharraf's ongoing visit to Europe.
The worse part, he said, was that Amir was electioneering for his National Assembly constituency, using the state resources and protocol. Khosa asked the Election Commission to declare Chaudhry disqualified as a punishment.
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