KARACHI, July 3: An All Party Conference (APC) convened by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Sunday unanimously resolved that political and religious parties were responsible for guaranteeing peace, tranquillity, transparency and neutrality in the ensuing non-party local body elections and for strictly adhering to the moral code formulated by the Election Commission.

The participants decided to constitute an “Election Monitoring Committee” from provincial to taluka/tehsil level and nominate their representatives at all tiers for achieving the objectives. This committee will release a comprehensive report after the conclusion of the election.

There were, however, divergent and dissenting views on whether the political parties should have any role in the party-less elections and whether army should be called in to supervise them amid apprehensions of rigging and violence.

Parties belonging to the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal as well as the Awami National Party, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, and Jamhoori Watan Party did not attend the conference.

In the resolution, the APC maintained that ‘in the larger national interest, we do expect from all those political and religious parties that have faith and firm belief in the democratic principles but still showed their reservations to join hands, will also adhere to the unanimously adopted code of conduct.’

The resolution said that no political and religious party should disrupt or attempt to disrupt the election campaign of candidates supported by other political and religious parties and they and their supported candidates should desist from using indecent, uncivilized and provocative language, in any form. Similarly provocative language should not be used in banners, posters and pamphlets. It also called upon them to refrain from wall chalking or graffiti.

The Election Monitoring Committee will coordinate with all political and religious parties during the elections.

During the deliberations, concerns were expressed over target killings and it was demanded that law pertaining to carrying weapons in public should be strictly enforced. Participants also deplored the untoward incident in which MQM’s coordination committee member Mrs Nasreen Jaleel was targeted by some angry people.

Former prime minister and president of the PML Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said that the elections would be held in free, fair and transparent manner and disclosed that President Musharraf had invited all the chief ministers to Islamabad on Monday to discuss matters relating to local elections.

Referring to concerns about pre-poll and post-poll rigging in the polls, Chaudhry Shujaat said that a code of conduct was needed because in the past such malpractices had resulted in fragmentation of the country and military intervention. In this context, he referred to failure to transfer power to Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman, which he termed as post-poll rigging. He also cited the election rigging in 1977 as a result of which military intervened following the PNA movement.

He said that the Sindh chief minister would handle the law and order situation in the province during the elections and would foil the machinations of anti-state elements.

He said that it was not only the duty of the chief election commissioner alone, but also of the government to extend a helping hand to the election commissioner and ensure peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections.

Secretary-General of the PML Mushahid Hussain appreciated the ‘timely initiative’ of the MQM prior to the elections because it had roots among the people and represented aspirations of the middle class. He also appreciated the party’s role in bringing an end to sectarianism in the city. He said that peace in the city was essential for the whole country.

Chief Minister Dr Arbab Rahim rejected opposition’s allegations of pre-poll and post-poll rigging and assured that the elections would be held in a free, fair and transparent manner. He claimed that no transfers and postings were made for this purpose. He nevertheless said that if anyone tried to create law and order situation, he would be dealt with severely.

Federal minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi of the PPP (formerly Patriot) surprised everyone by advocating that since the elections were being held on a non-party basis, political parties should have nothing to do with it. If they tried to influence the electorate and the candidates, it would be tantamount to violating the constitution and the law and the code of conduct. He asked political parties to adhere to the do’s and don’ts of the LGO, because polarization escalated due to acrimony between their workers. He appreciated the MQM initiative but declined to sign the code of conduct on the premise that it would be a violation of the law and constitution.

He was of the view that army never intervened on its own; it were the political elements who invited it and distributed sweets on their takeover.

He said that if the political parties wanted free, fair and credible local elections, they should not participate in it in any form. He said that if that was not accepted then the LG elections should be held on party basis.

Former caretaker prime minister and chief of the National People’s Party Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi expressed concern over rising extremism and target killings in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan, which included killing of religious people and suicide attacks on places of worship. He stressed the need for holding elections in a peaceful manner.

He was of the view that sweeping powers given to the chief minister for removing nazims were wrong and partisan. He said that the house which elected a nazim had the right to remove or impeach him.

Dr Farooq Sattar, who presided over the deliberations, emphasized the reasons for evolving a code of conduct, and differed with Dr Sher Afghan’s argument that political parties should have no role in the upcoming LG elections. He was of the view that any process that involved obtaining people’s views was a political process and no political party should be expected to remain aloof. This was evident in the last LG elections as well.

He said that MQM did not believe in politics over dead bodies and regretted that despite serious efforts, MMA components and other opposition parties did not attend the conference which was for peace and amity.

Mohammad Khan Wardag of Tehrik-i-Istaqlal, Pir Dr Khalid Raza Zakorisharif of Ulema Mashaikh Muslim League Supreme Council, Dr S.M. Zameer of Pakistan Awami Tehrik, Malik Asghar Awan of Jamiat Mashaikh Pakistan, M.A. Bhutta of Saraeki National Party; Haji Mohammad Haneef Tayyab of Nizam-i-Mustafa Party, Imamuddin Shoqeen of the PML-F and Senator Mohim Khan Baloch of BNP (Awami) also participated in the deliberations and stressed the need for respecting each other’s rights and political and religious beliefs and maintaining calm and peace.