Allegations of Pre-Poll Rigging about October 10 elections in Pakistan

leveled by various entities and reported

by media during July 2-October 7, 2002

Compiled by Mohammad Shehzad, freelance journalist

Email: rageshri2@yahoo.com

Tel: 92 333 5169614

for Liberal Forum Pakistan, a non-profit civil society group

http://www.liberal-forum-pakistan.sdnpk.org

Copyrights: Mohammad Shehzad and Liberal Forum Pakistan

October 9, 2002

No	Date	Source	Entity	Person alleging	Against	Charge
1	Jul 2	Dawn	BNPM	Sardar Akhtar Mengal, chief	Balochistan Government	Accused it of not arresting the alleged killers of senior party leader Mir Aslam Gichki and providing them protection. Called it an act of PPR.
2	Aug 1	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani Acting SG	State-run media	Accuses regime of launching a one-sided, malicious media campaign against the party and BB on TV and radio; terms it PPR. Categorizes PPR as rigging through politics, laws and administration. Also included formation of SDA in Sindh, creation of the National Alliance, government’s support to the PMLQ, particularly in Punjab; appointment of ministers in Sindh cabinet who belonged to political parties, the statement of the President that BB will not be allowed to take part in politics.
3	Aug 4	Dawn	PMLZ	Ijazul Haq, chief	PMLQ	Accused PMLQ of rigging the polls.
4	Aug 9	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani	Regime	Apprised the EU of his apprehensions, the forthcoming elections will not be free, fair and transparent. Categorized rigging into three categories: through politics, law and administration cited specific examples e.g. BB disqualification, SDA and National Alliance creation, support to PMLQ, particularly in the Punjab, appointment of ministers in Sindh cabinet belonging to political parties, sending of non-entities as envoys of the regime, sitting governors and ministers contesting polls. Declared the following as BB specific laws: (a) Amendment to section 31 of NAB Ordinance whereby non- appearance before a court has been made a convict-able offence. (b) Conviction by special courts for her non-appearance, although her attorney was present. (c) The qualification to Hold Public Office Order, 2002, restricting any person from becoming the prime minister more than two times. (d) Amend to the Representation of Peoples Act, 1976, wherein conviction for non-appearance in a Court has been much a disqualification for contesting elections. (e) The promulgation of the Political Parties Order, 2002. Proposed Constitutional Amendments to Article 63 that a person convicted for non-appearance in court cannot contest the elections. Also said, the ROs have been empowered to reject candidate papers; and voter lists are being made by NADRA and not by EC.
5	Aug 10	The News	PPP	Khwaja M. Khan Hoti, NWFP President	Regime	Vindictive policies against PPP.
6	Aug 10	Dawn	PPP	Nisar Khuhro	Regime	Demanded an interim government to hold free and fair elections.
7	Aug 10	Dawn	PPP	Munir Ahmad Khan	Regime	Wrote CEC a letter. Exposed a PPR plan i.e. Musharraf has planned to support the KP and provincial ministers had been allocated 34 districts. The ministers have been assigned different duties to ensure the success of KP. Punjab chief secretary would monitor the whole operation. The district nazims and district coordination officers have been directed to obey the directions of the ministers and the chief secretary. Minister have been allegedly assigned the following duties: - Education minister Akhtar Saeed: to look after Multan, Muzaffargarh, Khanewal, and Rajanpur. - Local government minister Hamid Saeed Akhtar: Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal and Mandi Bahauddin. - Religious affairs minister Ghulam Sarwar: Lahore, Kasur and Vehari. - Agriculture minister Khurshid Zaman Qureshi: Lodhran, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur. - C&W minister Mohammad Tariq: Okara, Sahiwal and Pakpattan. - Revenue minister Malik Mohammad Aslam: to ensure results in Sargodha, Mianwali, Bhakkar and Hushab. - Social welfare minister Shaheen Attiqur Rehamn: Jhelum, Chakwal and Attock. - Health Minister Dr Mahmood Ahmad: Toba Tek Singh, Faisalabad, Jhang. - Law minister Rana Ejaz Ahmad: Gujrat, Sheikhupura and Hafizabad. - Finance minister Tariq Hameed: Layyah, Dawn G Khan and Rawalpindi. Alleged that Punjab chief secretary was presiding over meetings of political people in all the districts and pressuring district nazims to join or cooperate with these candidates. Sargodha district Nazim was refused to cooperate and was summoned by the chief secretary in Islamabad.
8	Aug12	Dawn	JI	Syed Munawar Hasan, SG	Regime CEC	Warned, rigging before or during the polls would lead to a more forceful movement than that of 1977. Declared the CEC as “chief rigging commissioner” in light of his conduct in the “farce” referendum. Demanded removal of CEC and an interim government for conducting fair elections.
9	Aug 12	Dawn	PPP	Ejaz Leghari, others	CEC	Protested relocation of Larkana polling stations.
10	Aug 13	Dawn	PMLQ	Salim Saifullah NWFP President		Government has taken every possible measure to ensure holding of the general elections in a fair and transparent manner. PMLQ is fully satisfied with the pre-polls steps of the government, which leave no ground for the opponents to express doubt over the elections’ fairness. The government has allowed coverage of all the political parties on the electronic media and politicians are expressing their views in a candid manner on the PTV and radio, something which had no precedence in the past. The government has put a complete ban on all postings and transfers all over the country till October elections in order to ensure transparency of the election, a more reflective of the government’s sincerity.
11	Aug 13	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani	Regime	Apprised CEC of government PPR plan. Declared formation of National Alliance and SDA, a part of PPR scheme. Accused government of making another IJI-like alliance to block BB’s return to power.
12	Aug 13	Dawn	PPP	Sardar Shabbir Ahmad Chandio, President Larkana	Regime CEC	Alleged, 90 percent polling stations in Larkana have been shifted to less-populated villages, which would not only hamper the voting process but also create transport problem for the voters. Relocations combined with appointment of such polling staff who would favor pro-government political parties.
13	Aug 14	Nation	ARD	Nawabzada Nasrullah, Chairman	Regime	Met EU observers at his Lahore-residence. Asserted, government was involved in PPR, the objective vindication of which was, Musharraf on the eve of referendum articulated that he had drawn a line and those falling on the pro-government line would be supported while those falling on other sides would be deemed antagonist of the government. The practical demonstration of this statement was that a KP in the shape of Grand Alliance had taken birth, in accordance with the directions of the government, while other parties avoiding to get assimilated in it were being threatened. Musharraf statement of calling Nawaz Sharif as “enemy no. one” and BB a security risk is outrageous because the nation considers only India as such enemy.
14	Aug 14	Nation	PMLN	Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Provincial GS	Punjab Chief Secretary	Demanded resignation of the Punjab Chief Secretary, saying, he should have resigned from his office as his daughter and brother are contesting the elections on the tickets of PMLQ, which is an official party.
15	Aug 14	Daily Times	HRCP		Regime	Said the government spokesman’s attacks on the EU observers mission had raised doubts about the fairness of election. All previous elections were monitored by international and domestic observers and had all necessary facilities required. Any deviation from this past practice would undermine public faith in the fairness of the elections.
16	Aug 16	Dawn	HRCP		Regime	Opposed checks on EU team. Flayed FO for turning down EU request for security. Linked it with fairness of elections. Urged the FO to extend full logistical support to EU observers.
17	Aug 16	SAT	ARD	Munir Ahmad Khan, Central Deputy Secretary Information	Regime	http://www.satribune.com/archives/Aug10-16_02/opinion_ardpollrigging.htm I believe that the International community is interested to have a fair and free elections in Pakistan and that democracy must be restored. Due to pressure of the International Community and the people of Pakistan the election date has been announced. But unfortunately a massive pre-poll rigging has started. The regime do not want a fair and free election and want to bring a "King's Party" into power by hook or by crook.
18	Aug 17	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani	Official Media	Lodged a complaint against smear campaign against its leader on the state-owned electronic media. On Aug 11, a TV show was aired wherein a serving general, Rashid Qureshi made political comments, leveled false and fabricated charges, distorted facts and circumstances and maligned BB with mala fide intent and purpose.
19	Aug 17	Dawn	PPP	Khwaja M. Khan Hoti, NWFP chief	Official media	Lodged the same complaint.
20	Aug 18	The News	PPP	BB	EC	Termed NA207 relocation as mischievous. Asked the CEC to intervene into malicious relocation of polling stations in her constituency to new and strange places making vote casting difficult. BB’s constituency NA207, comprises of Rato Dero, Mirokhan and Shahdadkot, from where she had won every election since 1988. The polling stations in this constituency remained fixed since pre-partition days.
21	Aug 19	Dawn	CEC			CEC Justice Irshad Hasan Khan took a serious notice of a complaint from Larkana regarding setting up of a polling stations other than previous places and issued directives to set up polling stations in the government-owned buildings such as schools or colleges.
22	Aug 19	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani	CEC	Urges him to reconsider single identity condition and permit the use of multiple identity condition for voting as it existed in all elections until 1988 when rules were arbitrarily changed. Also forwarded a copy of an article in SAT which said the October polls were in serious trouble as the Musharraf government had failed to provide almost 10 million qualified new voters their computerized NICs, without which they cannot vote.
23	Aug 21	Dawn	PTI	Imran Khan	Regime	Accused the regime of interfering in election process through select accountability. Complained, time given by EC was very short for convassing.
24	Aug 21	Dawn	Media	Report	Regime	Raised concerns such as, political parties would get less than a month for their campaigns since government would lift ban activities on Sept 13. Activities would not only be for the shortest period ever but also restricted to public and corner meetings. Big procession won’t be allowed.
25	Aug 21	Dawn	PPP	PPP, NWFP spokesman	Governor NWFP	Accused the governor of misusing state machinery in favor of KP and influencing district and tehsil nazims to join the PMLQ. During a visit to DI Khan, the governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah held a meeting with the district and tehsil nazims and members of various political parties and urged them to join the PMLQ.
26	Aug 22	Website	PPP	BB	Regime	The regime is gerrymandering the elections by seeking a ban on political leaders through specific back-dated laws, formation of a KP, breaking the major political parties and the tailored delimitation of constituencies to favor the candidates of the KP. This is a dangerous combination a la 1971.
27	Aug 23	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani	Regime	Wrote to CEC saying governor houses are the hub of activity where political alliances are made, intending candidates interviewed and posting and transfers of civil servants effected to support the KP.
28	Aug 25	The News	PPP	Liaquat Shabab, PF14; Mian Yahya Shah, PF13; Akmal Shah, PF15; Qurban Khan; PF16	Nazim Nowshehra	Accuse the nazim Parvez Khattak of openly using government funds for candidates of his own party.
29	Aug 25	Dawn	PTI	Imran Khan	Regime CEC	Doubted government sincerity in introducing democracy in the aftermath of creating the KP in the form of PMLQ and other alliances. Termed the re-introduction of 58-2 B (an arbitrary constitutional clause that empowered the President to dissolve the parliament) as meaningless after CEC inability to kick out the corrupt politicians from the election process.
30	Aug 26	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani	Governor Punjab	Apprises the CEC of meetings of PMLQ leaders, Mian Muhammad Azhar, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervez Ellahi with Governor Punjab general Khalid Maqbool to finalize their list of candidates. Asks the CEC to take notice of government illegal involvement in elections. “When candidates are decided in the governor house, then the result of the election become a forgone conclusion.”
31	Aug 27	Website	PPP	BB	Regime	Military is resorting to "pre-election rigging". Commonwealth should prevail upon Musharraf to hold "free and fair elections" under a neutral administration. The Government Houses of Punjab and Sindh have been turned into campaign Headquarters against the Pakistan People's Party. Ballot count should be done in the presence of representatives of candidates as in other Commonwealth countries including India and England. PPP candidates are being approached by police and colonels of the ISI. They are being asked not to file papers under the PPP or face NAB cases or face increased utility bill and they have been told clearly that they will not allow PPP to win. The elections are pre-judged and the electoral seats are pre-decided. All these activities are contrary to the public claims of General Musharraf that he is going to hold fair elections.
32	Aug 29	Dawn	Media	Report	Local government	Expresses concern of PPR. In Jacobabad, 42 polling stations for Thul STC, Misripur STC of Thul taluka have been prepared under the instructions of member of Sindh Cabinet. Polling stations have been proposed in the area of one tribe alone, despite the fact, government buildings are available. These stations remained unchanged in five general elections—1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997.
33	Aug 29	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani	Sindh government	Accused the government of masterminding PPR through tactics such as exaggerated demands for payment of government dues, income tax and utility charges at the nick of time.
34	Aug 29	Dawn	Media	Editorial	Regime	http://www.dawn.com/2002/08/29/ed.htm#1 Controlled campaigning Condemned government for restricting political activities. Termed it violation of EC’s code of conduct. Accused government of over-ruling the EC. Slammed it for giving limited time, only 39 days to parties for campaigning. Slated it for not giving permission to hold rallies. Criticized that Musharraf’s movement disturbs public life everyday. Elections, whereas are not held on daily basis, therefore, government should have allowed parties to hold processions and rallies.
35	Aug 31	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani	Regime	Protesting over BB’s nomination said it was an old plan to pave way for the KP. Now polls will be a farce.
36	Sep 1	Newsline	Media	Zahid Hussain, Reporter: How to steal an election…	Principal Secretary, Tariq Aziz	http://www.newsline.com.pk/cover1sep.htm For several weeks before the nominations were filed, Tariq Aziz, President Musharraf's powerful principal secretary, had camped out in Lahore, wheeling and dealing with politicians. The country's most powerful bureaucrat had an important task assigned to him by his military leader. His job was to knock together a pro-military alliance. Aided by Major General Ehtisham Zamir, the head of the ISI's domestic wing, and the crafty Brigadier (retd), Aijaz Shah, a former ISI officer and home secretary Punjab, Aziz finally manoeuvered a list of " loyal" candidates for the National Assembly from the province. Most of them belong to the PML (Q) and the Grand National Alliance, but there are several others who, the military government believes, were willing to cooperate. Tariq Aziz, a close pal of the General's from his student days, has been Musharraf's key political strategist and had earlier engineered a split in the PML through his old friend, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. However, it was not just Aziz's political dexterity, but also heavy arm-twisting by the ISI, as well as the administration, which forced many to switch their loyalties. Never before had the spy agency , despite its notoriety, been used so rampantly for political manipulation.” “I was frequently summoned by ISI operatives and urged to join the PML(Q)," said a former Punjab assembly member who is standing in the elections as a PML (N) candidate. Others have had even worse experiences.
37	Sep 1	Dawn	PTI	Abid Iqbal, NA3, PF-8	Local government	Accused administration of PPR
38	Sep 1	Website	Media	Report	Tariq Aziz, Principal Secretary	http://www.defencejournal.com/2002/sept/crunch.htm All the print and electronic media (barring PTV) have confirmed that the Choudhrys of Gujrat have Tariq Aziz as a friend, obviously he carries greater clout than Lt Gen Hamid Javed, the other Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to the Chief Executive. It is no secret that Tariq Aziz kept National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cynosure away from the Choudhrys. If Tariq Aziz was a corrupt, inefficient person, this would have been logical, but he is essentially a good man with misplaced loyalty to his friends superseding what should be responsibility and commitment to the people of Pakistan. That unfortunately happens to be Pakistan’s major problem in every level and strata of society, whether one is in politics, judiciary, the Armed Forces, civil administration, business, etc. nepotism and favoritism is always far more important than what one owes to the nation.
39	Sep 5	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani	EC	Wrote to Mary Cummins, Director, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). Pointing out flaws in vote count procedure said that it had been used in the previous elections to facilitate "rigging". Accused the company which has been assigned to computerize the count—Nestol—is managed by a minister.
40	Sep 6	Dawn	Media	Ayaz Amir, columnist, also PMLN Candidate, NA60	Tariq Aziz	http://www.dawn.com/weekly/ayaz/20020906.htm This dispatch from the frontlines--I write from the electoral trenches of Chakwal—is really meant for the benefit of three dear friends: Tariq Aziz, General Musharraf's principal secretary and the godfather of the King's Party or the Quisling League, Lt Gen Ehsan, head of ISI, and Maj Gen Talat Munir, head of the Intelligence Bureau. Was this country created for the sake of the Chaudries of Gujrat? Is this what we as a nation have come to? In the quiet watches of the night Tariq Aziz must ask himself these questions.
41	Sep 7	Dawn	PPP	Shaikh Mansur Ahmed Deputy SG	Tariq Aziz, Principal Secretary	http://www.dawn.com/2002/09/07/top4.htm Demanded NAB to take action against President's Principal Secretary Tariq Aziz for his alleged political activities in violation of the service rules. In a letter to NAB Chairman Lt-Gen Munir Hafiez, said, Tariq Aziz had established an unofficial election cell, comprising his close friends, at Sindh House here to manipulate the elections. The principal secretary issued directions to the provincial chief secretaries and police chiefs to accommodate requests from the cell and critical appointments have been made, especially in Punjab and Sindh, to ensure support to the "king's candidates".
42	Sep 8	Dawn	PMLN	Raja Zafarul Haq, Chairman	Regime, KP	Interference by the government has never been on such a scale as we have witnessed this time Party is documenting evidences of pre-poll rigging and make it public soon. Candidates of the "KP" were spared of accountability turning a blind eye to their alleged corruption. Maximum accommodation had also been shown to them in the demarcation of constituencies. Official might is being flagrantly employed to force leaders and workers of the opposition parties, particularly of the PML(N), to switch over to the "KP". Opposition candidates are being threatened with prosecution under accountability laws or allured through lucrative offers, including ministerial slots in the future government. The government is "blatantly flouting" the ban imposed by CEC on pre-election postings and transfers of officials.
43	Sep 8	Dawn	JI	Professor M. Ibrahim	Regime CEC	Appointment of a retired chief justice to CEC office is a part of PPR agenda.
44	Sep 9	The News	PMAP	Mehmood Khan Achakzai, PMAP Chief	Local Government	Accuses local government of rigging the election in NA 259, Quetta I, and NA 262, Qilla Abdullah. Says, government officials were dictating the disqualified politicians to manipulate his elections campaign. District nazim misuses Rs 2.5 million, granted by federal government for drought hit area in favor of KP candidates. PMLN; PPP; JWP; and BNC jointly said that Oct 10 polls were “selection”, not election. Also complained harassment.
45	Sep 11	The News	PTI	Imran Khan	Regime, Chaudhris of Gujrat	Provided evidences against Chaudhris of Gujrat, who got loans worth 241.30 million written-off by different financial institutions. Reminds EC of oath that says, “any candidate or his immediate family member is disqualified to contest election if he/she is a defaulter or has loans written off amounting to Rs2 million or more.”
46	Sep 11	Dawn	MQM	Kanwar Khalid Yunus, Deputy Convenor	Regime	Wrote to CEC to check government interference. MQM banners, posters, flags were removed forcibly by the local administration.
47	Sep 12	Website	PAT	Dr Tahir ul Qadri, Chairman	Regime	Some top officials are pursuing influential politicians to join a particular political party and throw weight in its favor.
48	Sep 12	The News	PPP	BB	Regime	“Computerization of the count has been given to a company called Nestol, which is managed by a cabinet minister.”
49	Sep 15	Dawn	PPP	Nisar Khuhro	Regime	Alleged, rejection of his electoral appeal was an act of PPR. Khuhro, whose nomination papers were rejected on account of his being a defaulter, denies the charge.
50	Sep 16	Dawn	PMLN	Raja Zafarul Haq	Musharraf	Government blatant involvement in the electoral process indicates that Musharraf may have returned from the US with a fresh agenda and he may take harsher steps to perpetuate his rule instead of restoring democracy in the country.
51	Sep 16	Dawn	HRCP	Afrasiab Khattak, Chairman HRCP I A Rehman, HR activists/journalist	Regime	Harshly criticized regime for—securing pre-determined results with vindictive and controversial laws, not setting up an independent EC; introducing graduation clause; transferring government officials despite prohibitory orders of EC, governors/provincial secretaries interference and support to KP candidates, etc.
52	Sep 17	Nation	JWP	Nawab Akbar Bugti, Chief	Regime	“PPR started the day when graduation condition was imposed.”
53	Sep 18	Dawn	MP	Ayela Malik, Asst. SG	Regime	Blamed certain high ups and local government representatives of PPR.
54	Sep 18	Nation	Media	Editorial	Regime	The editorial expressed surprise over Farooq Leghari’s complaint, in which he accused the regime of PPR. It is to be noted that Farooq’s party is considered part of the KP. He accused government officials of pressurizing leaders of various political parties to join PMLQ. He said that any pre-poll or post-poll rigging will further complicate things for the government and it will further damage Pakistan’s standing in the comity of nations.
55	Sep 19	Dawn	Media	Report, Rawalpindi	Nazims	People suffer as nazims are busy in electioneering.
56	Sep 19	Nation	MMA		Regime	Complained PPR in Lakki Marwat.
57	Sep 20	Dawn	PTI	Imran Khan	Regime	Khan accused the regime of assassinating his wife’s character, a Jew who converted to Islam. Also accused the government of coercing one of his candidates in Gujrat to withdraw in favor of the Chaudhris of Gujrat.
58	Sep 20	Dawn	MMA		Local Government	Accused Executive district Officer, Lakki Marwat, Nasrullah Khan, for directing teachers to caste vote to the KP candidates. Objected to participation of district nazim Humayun Saifullah Khan in the electioneering and mustering support for his two brothers.
59	Sep 20	The News	PMLN	Ahsan Iqbal, Chief Coordinator	Governor Punjab	Demanded EC to stop Governor Punjab from undertaking “political tours” to districts and announcing development schemes.
60	Sep 20	Dawn	PMLN	Mian M. Irfan, NA83	Police, Local government	Administration and police campaigning for PMLQ candidate Mushtaq Ali Cheema, who inaugurated a development project worth Rs20 million in the jurisdiction of NA83.
61	Sep 20	Nation	Media	Editorial	Governor Punjab	Slammed general Khalid Maqbool for distributing allotment deeds among workers, inaugurating civic projects, and promising a 200-bed unit in Sheikh Zayed Hospital and a 300-bed facility in Faisalabad. These initiatives were taken to demand votes for KP candidates.
62	Sep 21	The News	Media	Editorial	Punjab Law Minister	Slammed Rana Ijaz and Governor Punjab General Khalid Maqbool. Called the former “loyal than the King” for warning Imran Khan of dire consequences if did not stop issuing anti-government statements. Slated the Governor for suspending Multan’s Acting district nazim Malik Azam Dogar and Tehsil Naib nazim, Malik Abbas Rana for supporting PPP, but taking no action against Gujrat’s nazim, Chaudhry Shafaat Hussain, who allegedly supports the Chaudhris of Gujrat.
63	Sep 21	Dawn	Media	Report	DG Khan Nazim	Nazim Haji Jamal Khan is accused of supporting his father, former president Farooq Leghari, Millat Party chief in NA172. Also accused of supporting NA173, P 246.
64	Sep 21	Dawn	BNM	Ishaq Baloch, Information Secretary	Regime	Quetta: Met EU observers. Apprised them of government cooperation to KP candidates.
65	Sep 21	Dawn	PPP	Javed Ahmed, provincial president, Balochistan	Police	Accusations of government support to KP candidates. Police removed banners and hoarding of PPP candidates erected at Meezan Chowk under the pretext of elections rules whereas Millat Party and PMLQ was given a free hand.
66	Sep 21	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani, Acting SG	Larkana Police	In NA204, Larkana I and PS36 Larkana II, the SHOs of Keti Mumtaz and Warisdino Masih police station arrested supporters of the party and subjected them to torture.
67	Sep 21	Dawn	Media	Report	DG Khan Tehsil Nazim	The nazim, Usman Khan Buzdar is accused of running election campaign of his father, Tumandar Fateh Mohammad Buzdar, who is in the run for PP241 on a PMLQ ticket. Buzdar is using government vehicles in electioneering for his father in tribal areas.
68	Sep 21	Dawn	Media	Report	Police	Police arrested Faisal Mohammad Waqas, a joint candidate of PMLN and MMA for PP-8, Rawalpindi for making an anti-government speech during his campaign.
69	Sep 23	The News	PPP	Fauzia Wahab, HRD	Regime	Wrote EU team about PPR employed by the regime, which included: flawed voter lists, unauthorized transfer, designating polling stations in sensitive areas, declaring BB as proclaimed offender through unfair laws, ordaining a political parties order a few days before the election and binding political parties for intra-parties polls.
70	Sep 23	Dawn	PPP	Rao Abdul Sami	district nazim, Nawabshah	Accused him of backing MQM candidates, PS 24. The nazim, Faryal Talpur was accused of making unauthorized transfers of police officers and removing MQM flags from various buildings.
71	Sep 23	Dawn	PPP	Dr Azra Pechuho, Ali M. Jalbani, NA 213, PS 25 respectively	Education Minister Sindh,	Accused the minister, Khan Mohammad Dahri of running campaigns of his cousins; transferring teachers; and relocating polling stations to areas where roads were not commutable.
72	Sep 23	The News	German Foreign Office		Regime	Leading officials in the German foreign office express serious resentment over the electoral process taking place in Pakistan.
73	Sep 23	Dawn	PPP	Spokesperson	Sindh Government	The government registered fake cases against Ghulam Mustafa Shah, NA214 for theft of water; M. Baksh Lashari, NA240 for murder; Khalid Shehansha, NA246 for snatching a watch and Shabbir Qureshi, PS92 for murder.
74	Sep 24	The News	PPP	M. Anwar Khan, NA33, Dir Upper; M. Rashid Advocate, PF91	District government	Accused the administration of PPR on appointing controversial government servants at polling stations.
75	Sep 24	The News	APCA	Clerks	Regime	Rejected appointment of government servants on polling stations for Oct 10 elections. Called this act an injustice to them. It is to be noted that in Pakistan, a huge majority of junior level government servants—clerks, school teachers, etc—are assigned additional duties of working on polling stations. Recently, when government of Pakistan decided to privatize the state-owned schools, the teachers went on strike and threatened to issue a white paper on the massive rigging in April 30 referendum (which legitimized and extended General Parvez Musharraf’s rule for another five years) if the decision was withdrawn. Government had to withdraw the privatization.
76	Sep 24	Nation	ARD	Nawabzada Nasrullah	Regime	Political situation could worsen like 1971 in case the sanctity of ballot paper was not maintained. Rigging affects internal stability. Governors, chief secretaries, home secretaries, inspectors generals of police, etc are distributing tickets of the KP. Deputy director of Federal Investigative Agency, Multan was taking part in election campaign of his brother in Muzaffargar.
77	Sep 25	The News	PTI	Akbar Babar, Information Secretary	PTV, Radio	Told Nuala Haughey (EU Media Expert), the state-run media gives too little time to political parties.
78	Sep 25	Nation	Independent Candidates	Tahir Zarin, PF1, Pir Abdur Rehamna, PF2, Dr Liaquat Ali, PF3	Nazim of Town I	The nazim Haroon Bilour violating local government directives, using development funds for political campaigns of his father and brother.
79	Sep 26	The News	Media	Liberal Forum	PTV	In its report, the Liberal Forum Pakistan calculated the running time given to political parties on PTV. PMLQ (which is referred to as KP) got maximum coverage i.e. 14 min 4 sec. MMA, 9:6. PPP, 5.53; PMLN, 4.31; MQM, 3.26; PTI, 2:44.
80	Sep 26	Press release	PMLQ	Kabir Wasti, party leader	Opposition	Wrote to EU members. Refuted opposition’s PPR charges calling them “election stunt”. Dismiss the “king’s party” propaganda.
81	Sep 26	The News	PTI	Imran Khan	Regime	(Mingora), Warned that the regime should stop interference in the polls, otherwise, he would divulge details of how referendum was rigged. Elections were a re-run of the referendum. Referendum was to justify the extension of the President, while the elections would be a PMLQ referendum to justify return to democracy.
82	Sep 26	The News	Media		Sahiwal Nazim	District nazim Mohammad Yar Dhakku and eight nazim using government vehicles and other resources to run election campaign of the relatives in NA 162, PP 222.
83	Sep 26	Dawn	PMLN	Raja Sheeraz Haider, PF49, Haripur-I	Haripur Nazim	Nazim Raja Aamir Zaman interfering in the election process. In NA-19, MMA candidate blamed tehsil nazim for manipulating election.
84	Sep 26	Dawn	MMA	Ghulam Nabi Khan, NA19	Tehsil Nazim	Blamed tehsil nazim for manipulating election.
85	Sep 27	The News	PTI	Miraj Khan	Punjab Law Minister`	Accused the minister of taking law into his hands by addressing public meetings of the Gujrat’s Chaudhris. Excoriated Governor Punjab for touring Punjab along with KP’s candidates and labelling Imran Khan as “part of the Jewish conspiracy”.
86	Sep 27	Dawn	Media	Sheharyar Afridi Malik Fida Khan	Governor NWFP	Voters of NA-14 accused the governor of supporting PMLQ candidate Iftikhar Hussain Gillani. Governor gave Rs 45 million to the DCO for development works to get voters support for Gillani.
87	Sep 27	Dawn	Media	Ayaz Amir, Columnist	Governors Regime	http://www.dawn.com/weekly/ayaz/20020927.htm Our Saviors and their shibboleths “Unlike the nazim election last year and the referendum earlier this year, the corps commanders or the ISI are not directly meddling in this election campaign.” “Presidential supremacy has already been ensured by constitutional slaughter. The electoral arena thus lies stripped of serious issues.” “An election is about power, its retention or capture, or it is about nothing. But where the question of power is already decided, zest disappears from the exercise. If a football match is not about winning or losing, what is it then about?” “The EC’s hollow warnings have had not the slightest effect on them. To this extent this has been a free election, with the nazimeen free to indulge in what interference they choose.”
88	Sep 27	Dawn	PTI	Miraj Mohammad, SG	EC	Expressed lack of confidence in the Election Commission of Pakistan and warned the government not to push political parties against the wall. “In my view, these elections are not going to be fair, free or impartial. I would go a step further and say these are going to be phase-II of referendum. The party has written several letters to the EC and provided conclusive evidence against some members of pro-government parties, but it remained totally unmoved.”
89	Sep 28	Dawn	PPP	Nishar Khoro, Provincial President Sindh	Governor Sindh	Held recent whirlwind visits by the Sindh governor and other ministers and announcements of grants as a clear violation of the election commission's rules.
90	Sep 28	Dawn	PPP	Aftab Shahban Mirani, NA-202 (Shikarpur-I)	Sindh government	Alleged, government's favorite candidates from Shikarpur district were involved in pre-poll rigging. Said that 13 many polling stations were relocated on the behest of the candidates of the Sindh Democratic Alliance and the PMLQ. Some 9,000 bogus votes were enrolled in electoral rolls of Shikarpur and Khanpur talukas and more than 13 polling stations were relocated from suitable places to the desolate areas, where only two to three kutcha houses were situated, to favor the SDA and PML-Q candidates.
91	Sep 28	Dawn	PPP	Junaid Ahmed Soomro, PS-12 Shikarpur-II	Sindh government	Expressed his surprise over the delaying tactics in rectifying the irregularities, committed by the local administration in relocating the polling stations and appealed to the federal election authorities to take proper and immediate action. Complained that in order to favor his rival candidate, about 12 presiding and polling officers of the latter's choice were appointed. The SHOs of four police stations - Humayoon, Khanpur, Kot Shahoo and Naparkot - were posted to favor his rival candidate on the polling day. Appealed to the election authorities and the governor of Sindh to stop the disbursement of Rs20 million released from Zakat funds, in the interest of the deserving persons.
92	Sep 28	Dawn	PPP	Agha Arsalan Khan, NA-203 (Shikarpur-II)	Sindh government	Complained about enrolment of bogus votes and establishment of polling stations at inconvenient places in his constituency.
93	Sep 28	Dawn	Media	Irfan Hussain, columnist	CEC	http://www.dawn.com/weekly/mazdak/20020928.htm The presence of the Chief Election Commissioner, the man who supervised Gen Musharraf's farcical referendum, does not inspire much confidence in the fairness of the elections. And a final contribution to the general sense of disillusionment and despair is the ham-handed way in which this government has pressured many candidates into changing allegiance.
94	Sep 29	Nation	Media	Editorial	Governor Punjab	Criticized governors of flouting the EC ban on announcement of development projects till Oct 10. Slammed Governor Punjab for: a) announcing a sui gas project for Mianwali, which was not even a provincial subject; b) maligning the opposition leaders in his speeches; c) asking the people not to vote for exiled leaders’ parties; d) threatening the voters of dire consequences if they did not vote to the KP, while distributing living quarters to the industrial workers in Gujrat.
95	Sep 29	Dawn	JI	Qazi Hussain Ahmad	Regime	Accused the regime of monitoring activities of religious and political parties.
96	Sep 29	Dawn	MMA	Allama Sajid Naqvi, VP	Regime	Accused the regime of vilifying religious leaders, madaris, religious institutions so that people don’t cast them votes.
97	Sep 29	Dawn	MMA	Shah Ahmad Noorani, President	Governor Sindh	Condemned Governor’s official visits in a bid to rig elections in NA-198, PS-1, 2 (Sukkur) in favor of KP.
98	Sep 29	Dawn	Media Local Government	Report Nafisa Shah, district nazim	Governor Sindh	Accused him of asking the people to vote for KPs candidates. Addressing Chundko Town, Nara Taluka, Khairpur, announced a special development packages of Rs 166 million for 8 talukas of Khairpur district and a grant of Rs 5 million for providing water to Chundko Town. Assured employment to the people. Slammed Governor’s visit saying, grants were for areas where PMLF Chief, Pir Pagaro has influence. He should not have undertaken the tour just prior to the elections.
99	Sep 29	Dawn	Media	Report	Chakwal Nazim	Sardar Ghulam Abbas is accused by Sardar Mansoor Hayat Tamman, Sardar Zulfikar Ali Khan Dulla and Malik Zahoor Anwar of PML-Q
100	Sep 29	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani	EC	EC response to PPP concerns regarding pre-poll rigging has been poor. Categorized pre-poll rigging into three categories - political manoeuvring, amending the laws and administrative support. Biggest instance of pre-poll rigging was making BB specific laws. A new dimension to rigging was coercion to PPP candidates through state apparatus.
101	Sep 29	Dawn	PMLN	Javed Hashmi, Acting President	Regime	Termed PPR an effort to divide the nation and regionalize two major parties. Government has completed pre-poll riggings by bifurcating the constituencies to suit its motives and by 'victimizing' around 400 politicians through the NAB. Would be very difficult for the government to handle the assemblies, comprising of 'ordinary leaders' seeking guidance from their 'elders'. Hashmi is contesting from NA-123 (Lahore) and NA-148 (Multan). He has been behind the bars for the last 11 months and not allowed to meet his voters while his opponents have been given a free hand. He is facing a reference for misusing his authority as federal minister (from 1991 to 1999) to acquire movable and immovable assets, worth Rs38 million, disproportionate to his known sources of income.
102	Sep 29	Dawn	PPP	Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, NA250	Karachi Police	Police last night pulled down a hoarding from Schon Circle in Clifton, which carried BB’s picture along with the candidate. Candidate Baig, Najmi Alam, Waqar Mehdi and Munawar Suhrawardi alleged that the authorities had removed the PPP hoarding, banners and posters, but similar displays of other contestants were not touched. Ikhtiar Baig said that DPO Saddar and other police officials told him that they were under orders to remove such banners which carried BB's picture.
103	Sep 29	Dawn	PTI	Imran Khan	Governor Punjab	Termed the inauguration of the gas supply project by the Punjab governor on Friday in Mianwali an PPR instance.
104	Sep 29	Dawn	Media	Report	Nazim Sialkot	The Nazim Mian Naemm Javed has joined the election campaign of PMLQ candidates in Sialkot district. Addressed a public meeting of PMLQ candidate from PP128, Shahid Mahmood Butt in Wadala Sindhuan, Daska tehsil. The nazim announced a grant of Rs10 million for the construction of Mundey Ki-Satran and Wadala sindhuan-Budha Goroya roads.
105	Sep 29	Dawn	Media	Report	Local Administration	The RO Attock Nasir Sohail stopped the district nazim, tehsil nazim and other nazims from attending and addressing the election meetings of any candidate.
106	Sep 30	Nation	PMLN	Raja Zafarul Haq, Chairman	EC	EC is weak, not checking the PPR.
107	Sep 30	Dawn	BNM/ BSO	Ishaq Baloch, Information Secretary/ Khair Mohammad Baloch, GS	Regime, Governor Balochistan	Accused the governor of making large-scale transfer of officials despite an EC ban. Further accused him of transferring officials to Makran to help the KP. Warned of launching a movement against the regime with the help of nationalist forces. Vowed move the judiciary.
108	Sep 30	Dawn	PMLN	Zafar Ali Shah, VP	Police	Accused police of removing his banners and pasting posters of PMLQ candidates on his already posted posters.
109	Sep 30	Dawn	AQP	General Mirza Aslam Beg, Party Leader	Army	Accused army officers of harassing his party members to change the loyalties but refused to register a complaint saying it would be of no use because no authority in the country was competent to redress such grievances.
110	Sep 30	The News	EU	EU leaders	Regime	EU leaders slammed ban on opposition leader.
111	Sep 30	The News	PTI	Amir Kiyani, NA 56	Regime CEC	PPR may lead to crisis. Ever since Imran Khan exposed the extent of PPR by government, a mud-slinging campaign has been launched to discredit him and create hurdles in his campaigns. Accuses, CEC has totally failed to enforce electoral rules and stop government’s blatant support to KP.
112	Sep 30	Nation	Media	Report	District government	Involvement of local government members has jeopardized the free polls. District nazim Rawalpindi Tariq Kiyani is personally campaigning for the success of his family members, who are KP candidates.
113	Sep 30	Dawn	Media	Report	Regime	Pakistan Bar Council, the apex body of the legal practitioners, condemned the regime for siding with certain political parties and candidates, and said that state machinery was being used in support of parties and candidates of its choice. “It is open secret that the government officials including governors and chief secretaries are canvassing support for the candidates of PMLQ and National Alliance and are distributing funds and other favors to help such candidates and to defeat candidates of other political parties.”
114	Sep 30	Dawn	PPP	Fehmida Mirza, NA225, Badin	Regime	Expressed doubts over the fairness of the elections in the face of victimization of even the party sympathizers. To sons of a candidate from PS57, Haji Abdul Karim Bhurgari have been transferred and asked to leave their health units in 24 hours. PMLQ workers were openly threatening the PPP workers of dire consequences for holding corner meetings in particular areas. Deplored, power supply of PPP corner meetings is disconnected. No action was taken on her complaint.
115	Oct 1	Dawn	PTI	Miraj Khan, SG	PID	Comprehensive computerized blue-print of elections results is ready. PID is running campaign of Zobaida Jalal, former Federal Minister for Education.
116	Oct 1	Dawn	PMLN	Sheikh Afghan Ahmed, Attock	Regime, KP	District government supporting KP.
117	Oct 1	Dawn	PPP, PMLN MMA		Faisalabad Local Government	Accuse district nazim Zahid Nasir of harassing notables and attending door-to-door campaign of KP candidates. He attended meetings in NA 77 where his brother Asim Nazir is contesting election. Accuse government of misusing funds in NA 75, 77, 78, 79, 81, and 83 in KP favor.
118	Oct 2	Dawn	PPP	Babar Awan, NA 48, Islamabad	NADRA	National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) has failed to deliver 80,000 national identity cards to the residents of Islamabad.
119	Oct 2	Website	PPP	BB	ISI	Accused ISI of political victimization to create a wedge between Musharraf and the elected or selected parliament in order to hold sway over the body politic of Pakistan.
120	Oct 2	Dawn	Lawyer	Malik Fida Afridi	Governor NWFP	Filed a writ-petition in the Peshawar High Court. Accused the Governor of sanctioning Rs45 million for development schemes in the constituency of a PML-Q candidate, Iftikhar Gillani, NA-14, Kohat. Held: CEC fully empowered to check PPR by the government functionaries; dismissed the petition asking the petitioner to seek remedy from CEC.
121	Oct 2	Dawn	Lawyer	Mian Hanif Tahir	President, Governor Punjab	Filed a writ-petition in Lahore High Court. Accused the President and the Governor of favoring PMLQ.
122	Oct 2	Dawn	PPP	BB	ISI, retired generals	Accused ISI of rigging the elections. The old retired general like Hameed Gul are still the thinkers and policymakers and continue to guide the agency. They are running the whole show.
123	Oct 2	Dawn	Regime	Rana Ijaz Ahmed, Punjab Law Minister	Regime	It is neither legally wrong nor immoral for the government to support any party. There have been precedents in past where different rulers of the past have supported various parties.
124	Oct 3	Website	PPP	Raza Rabbani, Acting Secretary General	NRB, KP (PML-Q), NADRA	NRB is carrying out 'rigging' task in consultation with the candidates of the KP. Election Commission has been handed over the freshly delimited constituencies to go through the motions of law. The constituencies have been tailored to suit regime sponsored candidates. NADRA preparing erred ID Cards. These cards are mostly to be found in areas where the PPP is in majority.
125	Oct 3	ICG	ICG team	Report: Pakistan: Transition to Democracy?	Regime	Pre-election rigging cannot be ruled out since the same EC that oversaw Musharraf’s flawed referendum is overseeing the electoral process. Political leaders doubt that the elections on 10 Oct 2002 will be free and fair. The military government can, however, be reasonably confident that the judiciary will endorse them and the constitutional reforms. When it validated the Oct 1999 coup, the Supreme Court also gave Pakistan’s military ruler the mandate to amend the constitution, but only within the framework of federal, parliamentary democracy. Subsequent forced resignations, selective appointments, and inducements have, however, subordinated the judiciary to the executive.
126	Oct 3	The News	PTI	Imran Khan	Punjab Law Minister	Khan demands action against Rana Ejaz Ahmed Khan for violating electoral laws. The minister was quoted as saying that the government had every right to support any political party. Khan also accused him of passing derogatory remarks against his charity hospital, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital.
127	Oct 3	The News	JI	Qazi Hussain Ahmad	Regime	Warns government of movement if polls rigged.
128	Oct 3	Dawn	PMLN	Ishaq Dar	Regime	Dar sends concrete evidences of massive poll rigging to Mr Romano Prodl, President EU in Brussels and the Commonwealth.
129	Oct 3	Dawn	MMA		NADRA	Accuses NADRA of making fake ID cards.
130	Oct 3	Dawn	PPP	Javed Ahmed, Balochistan Provincial President	NADRA, PML Q, Millat Party	Urged EU observers to take notice of bogus ID cards. Claimed, a large numb of bogus ID cards were seized in Nushki and Usta Mohammad. (A NADRA employee was arrested for forgery.) Accused NADRA of supplying them to PML-Q and Millat Party. 4-5 cards were issued in the name of one person.
131	Oct 3	Dawn	BNPM	Habib Jalib Baloch, SG	Regime, PMLQ	Accused the administration of distributing wheat in Chagai to influence voters in NA-260, Chagai. Accused government of supporting Baloch Khan, a PML-Q candidate.
132	Oct 3	Dawn	Media	Report		Foreign poll observer hired services of private security firms.
133	Oct 4	GN	PTI	Imran Khan	Governor Punjab, KP	The level of pre-poll rigging is unprecedented in our history. It is just across-the-board rigging for the KP. Punjab Governor General Khalid Maqbool stood by his Mianwali rival, Obaidullah Shadikhel from the PML-QA and announced a development package for the people.
134	Oct 4	The News	PPP	Asif Zardar, Attock Jail	Regime	Rigging will expose the government
135	Oct 4	The News	PPP	Qasim Zia, Punjab President	Regime	People are not with the KP. PPP will win 150 seats and form government in Sindh and Punjab.
136	Oct 4	The Newss	JI	Professor Ghafoor Ahmad, Deputy Head	Regime, Governor Punjab	Government has broken all the records of PPR. Oct 10 polls will be farcical and replay of presidential referendum. Blue-eyed Punjab Governor has openly admitted government’s involvement in pre-poll rigging. Governor House has turned a media cell of a particular party. Millions of funds are being spent on the project of that party.
137	Oct 4	The News	PPP	Raza Rabbani, Acting SG	Governor Sindh, PML-Q	Wrote a letter to CEC saying, Sindh Governor addressed public meetings of PML-Q. On Sep 30, he visited Majedi in Tehsil Shikarpur and launched with Himat Kumario, a PML-Q candidate from PS-I, Shikarpur-I. Governor called upon the people to vote for the candidate who support the policies of Musharraf. Alleged Thatta Police of booking Arab Wazir Ahmed Memon, PPP, NA-238; Hajib Shams Memon, PPP, PS-86 under false charges. The FIR included 150 workers of PPP. Police refused to register PPP complaint when Ayaz Ali Shah (PML-Q) surrounded an election office of a PPP candidate.
138	Oct 4	Dawn	PPP	Nazir Hussain Kiyani, former MNA	EC	EC is running campaign of KP by showing its symbol, bicycle, in its sample polling advertisement on the PTV. Ads don’t show symbols of mainstream parties like PPP, PMLN, etc.
139	Oct 4	Jang	Media	Report		Taking action on Imran Khan’s letter, EC has called explanation from Punjab law minister Rana Ijaz Ahmad. EC has also asked NADRA Chairman to clarify his position against charges of fake ID cards.
140	Oct 4	Dawn	PPP	Aftab Shahban Mirani, NA202	Governor Sindh	Governor’s public meetings and his directions to the people for casting votes in favor of government-backed candidates have exposed Islamabad’s claim of holding fair elections. Governor also attended receptions, arranged in his honor by the “official” candidates during his visits to different districts.
141	Oct 5	Dawn	HRCP	I A Rehman	Regime	http://www.dawn.com/2002/10/05/op.htm#1 I A Rehman, veteran journalists in his column writes: “The principal candidate in the forthcoming election and certainly the most active of all the characters on the electoral stage, is the Establishment itself. This alone can be the reason for its latest affliction—populism. That is, apart from its various activities, overt as well as covert, aimed at securing `positive results’. A number of legislative and policy measures have been taken on the eve of the general election. These include the new police law, defamation law, a law for newspapers and publications, the Press Council law, the freedom of information draft (which may be issued any time), the labor policy, proposals for reform of civil services, and, above all, the allocation of financial resources to provinces under the NFC award. Regardless of the controversies these measures generate or the degree of support they may in the short run receive, they are much too transparently designed to impress the population of the Establishment's goodwill and concern for the various sections of society, which is populism pure and simple. The electorate is clearly being told to hitch its fortunes on to a particular bandwagon.”
142	Oct 5	Dawn	Media	Editorial: Reality and perception	EC, Governors	Election Commission’s role in official advertisements to encourage people to caste their vote is biased. An advertisement meant to educate people on how to cast their votes showed a ballot paper marked by only four party symbols. The symbols did not include those of the PML(Nation), the PPP or the MMA but did carry the bicycle, symbol of the KP. Advised the EC to stay impartial. Regarding the charge that governors and other officials have been trying to prop up PML(Q) , said, this kind of partisanship on the part of sitting administrations has been a feature of all elections in the country. It might indeed have been much more pronounced if the Oct 10 polls were to be held under the supervision of a political government. But precisely for that reason, there was a chance for the military government, none of whose members are candidates, to have broken away from the pattern and permitted the electoral process to work according to its own dynamics. That would have certainly enhanced the reputation of the government and the credibility of the elections and their outcome. Unfortunately, the desire to keep out some political leaders and parties has led to actions that are now being questioned by many participants, a development that can only be regretted.
143	Oct 5	Dawn	Media	Editorial: ID card fraud	NADRA	Three political parties in Balochistan reported the discovery of a number of forged cards in Nushki and Usta Mohammad and the arrest of an employee of NADRA. The editorial urged the government to thoroughly investigate the matter including another complaint according to which some 24,000 suspect cards had been discovered in the Frontier province. Said that many forged cards can be detected if election staff are honest and polling agents alert. The government has switched over to a new computerized format and the voting age has been reduced to 18 years. The editorial slammed NADRA for not being able to issue ID cards to thousands of new voters.
144	Oct 5	Ausaf	PPP	Raza Rabbani, Acting SG	EC	Complained that he wrote 43 letters to CEC apprising him of PPR and other irregularities. Regretted that he failed to budge.
145	Oct 5	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani, Acting SG	EC	Accused EC of sending election material in unsealed bags which could pave way for rigging. EC denied the allegation and said sealed bags would carry the material.
146	Oct 5	Dawn	PMLN	Zafar Ali Shah, NA 48	Regime	Accused the regime of spreading dis-information about his withdrawal from election.
147	Oct 6	Jang	Media	Report		9521 polling stations in Pakistan are sensitive (Punjab=2,000; Sindh=2900; NWFP=2300; Balochistan=2312; Islamabad=9). Total Polling station: Sindh 14,000; Punjab 37,504; NWFP 8055; Balochistan 3440. 80,000 troops to enforce peace in Sindh. Opposition’s accusation is, only KP voters will be facilitated to caste vote in these sensitive areas, whereas their voters will be discouraged. So many sensitive polling stations will cause opposition’s vote bank a massive damage.
148	Oct 6	Nawai Waqt	Media	Report		Government has empowered those army officers who would be deputed on the polling stations with powers of magistrate. They could conduct summary trial and punish miscreants at the spot.
149	Oct 6	Nawai Waqt	Media	Report		Secretary EC Hassan Mohammad assured that Governor Singh Mian Mohammad Soomro would be brought to books for interfering in the election process. No action to date has been action.
150	Oct 6	Dawn	PPP	Raza Rabbani, Acting SG	Regime	Blasted military regime for making far-reaching and fundamental changes only few days ahead of the general election leaving very little room for the future elected government to take its own policy decisions.
151	Oct 6	Dawn	PPP	Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Chief PPP	NAB	Accused NAB of select accountability of PPP candidates. Said, former Sindh chief minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi was involved in 22 cases of corruption, which were being processed by NAB but he was contesting the polls with the help of some agencies.
152	Oct 6	Dawn	PBA	Hamid Khan	Chaudhrys of Gujrat	Chaudhry’s of Gujrat include Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Parvez Ellahi, the blue-eyed PMLQ candidates of the government. PTI filed a writ petition in Lahore High Court against them seeking their disqualification from contesting polls for getting loans of over Rs60 million written off from two banks.
153	Oct 6	Dawn	PPP	BB	ISI, Regime	Oct 10 elections have already become controversial and farcical as the regime has tasked the ISI to bring in a hung parliament with the KP playing a leading role. Candidates who would be brought to assemblies had been marked before the polling. PMLQ is the creation of the ISI, although intelligence agencies were not supposed to involve themselves in such things. Intelligence agencies were meant for infiltrating the terrorist networks and thwart their plans.
154	Oct 6	Dawn	Media	Report	Faisalabad Nazims	Political engagements of nazims is not only hampering routine official work but also creating sanitary and cleanliness problems. People are seen running from pillar to post to resolve their petty problems but they failed to find their elected representatives. The district government secretariat looks like an election camp of the PML-QA nominees where round the clock meetings were being arranged by the Nazim to assist the candidates, especially contesting election in the rural areas. See detailed report: Absence of Nazimeen on Page 13, Dawn, Islamabad edition.
155	Oct 6	Dawn	Media	Report		NADRA has detected some 78,238 suspected application forms for the computerized NICs across the country. About 19,750 forms have been detected in the NWFP.
156	Oct 6	Press release	PMLQ	Kabir Wasti, party leader	PPP	Wrote CEC a letter. Expressed regret that his party is dubbed as king’s party. Held the view that registration of PPP Parliamentarians was without due process of law.
157	Oct 7	Dawn	PPP	Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Chief	CEC Regime	Warned the government and the Election Commission to stop backing PML-QA candidates otherwise there would be clashes between law enforcers and the masses on polling day. The state-controlled electronic media was presenting the people involved in the co-operatives scam and Mehran Bank fraud as 'new talent'.
158	Oct 7	Khabrain	Media		Tribal	Tribesmen of Dara Adam Khel have arbitrarily impounded the women rights to caste vote. The houses of those who allow their women to caste vote would be demolished and fine would be imposed.
159	Oct 7	Khabrain	PAT	Tahirul Qadri, Chief	Regime	Feared that polls would be rigged in his constituency, NA127, Lahore and NA89, Jhang. Invited Commonwealth observers to monitor them.
160	Oct 7	BBC	Media	Report	Tariq Aziz	Accused Tariq Aziz, Musharraf’s principal secretary of PPR saying he was the man behind Chaudhris of Gujrat in their emancipation from corruption charges and having their loans written-off.
161	Oct 7	Dawn	Media	Report	Jhelum Administration	The Jhelum district government and police forcibly closed two election offices of the PPP and one of the PML-N , beat up their workers ahead of the election meeting of Punjab PMLQA president Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in Jhelum city.
162	Oct	Dawn	Media	Report	Faisalabad Police	Police raided a PPP rally. Commandos climbed on the stage and tried to whisk away Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas. However, PPP central leaders, including Makhdoom Amin Faheem, Qasim Zia, Rana Aftab Ahmed, and others put up strong resistance. In the meanwhile, the participants also fell into a rage and started chanting anti-government and anti-police slogans. Facing a stiff resistance both from the party leaders and participants, the raiding team was left with no option but to leave the stage. PPP leaders and policemen also exchanged harsh words.
163	Oct 7	Dawn	PPP	Aitzaz Ahsan	Regime	PPP workers and leaders were being harassed by the police just to please the PMLQ candidates.
164	Oct 9	Independent	Media	Editorial: Defying Election Commission	Regime	http://www.weeklyindependent.com/editorial.htm Raises the issue of violation of EC ban on transfer of government officials before the October 10 general elections by provincial governments. “The commission had restrained the government from announcing any development schemes before October 10, as the credit for these was bound to be taken by the pro-government candidates. However, the Punjab governor seems to have consigned the directive to dustbin. During the past one month, he addressed public meetings at 13 places which are constituencies of 173 PML-Q or the National Alliance candidates. In these meetings, the governor announced grants totalling Rs72.6 billion under different pretexts, allotted about one hundred thousand plots in rural areas, promised new roads, gas connections and potable water. He also made fresh appointments. In almost every meeting, the governor asked the audience to vote for those who support the military regime's agenda of reforms.
165	Oct 10	FEER	Media	Editorial: Missing an opportunity in Pakistan	Regime	Musharraf is accused of securing a new five-year term through illegal means. Predicts, he will also secure a parliament of his choice. Lambastes Musharraf of pushing through a series of rules that limit eligibility in the October 10 polls, e.g. graduation condition, and expulsion of BB and Nawaz Sharif.

Mohammad Shehzad is a freelance journalist. He have been writing for a number of national and foreign publications on a range of socio-political, environment and development issues.

List of acronyms

APCA	All Pakistan Clerk Association
AQP	Awami Qayadat Party
ARD	Alliance for Restoration of Democracy
ASG	Acting Secretary General
BB	Benazir Bhutto
BNC	Balochistan National Congress
BNM	Balochistan National Movement
BNP	Balochistan National Party
BNPM	Balochistan National Party (Mengal group)
BSO	Balochistan Students Organization
CEC	Chief Election Commission
EC	Election Commission
EU	European Union
FEER	Far Eastern Economic Review
FO	Foreign Office of Pakistan
Govt	Government
GN	Gulf News
HR	Human Rights
HRCP	Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
HRD	Human Rights Desk
HT	Hindustan Times
ICG	International Crisis Group
IJI	Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (an alliance formed by ISI against BB in 1990s)
ISI	Inter Services Intelligence (Pakistani intelligence agency run by military)
JI	Jamate Islami
JWP	Jamhoori Watan Party,
KP	King’s Party
MMA	Mutehida Majlise Amal
MP	Millat Party
MQM	Mutahidda Qaumi Movement
NAB	National Accountability Bureau
NADRA	National Database Registration Authority
NDI	National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
NIC	National Identity Cards
PAT	Pakistan Awami Tehrik
PBA	Pakistan Bar Association
PID	Press Information Department
PMAP	Pashtoonkhwa Mili Awami Party
PMLF	Pakistan Muslim League, Functional Group
PMLN	Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz Group)
PMLQ	Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam Group)
PMLZ	Pakistan Muslim League (Zia group)
PPP	Pakistan Peoples Party
PPR	Pre-Poll Rigging
PTI	Pakistan Tehrike Insaf
PTV	Pakistan Television
RO	Returning Officer
Rs	Pakistani rupees
SAT	South Asia Tribune
SDA	Singh Democratic Alliance
SHO	Station House Officer (Police Incharge)
TH	The Hindu
VP	Vice President