FACT SHEET

 The Farce of the Road Map

 Twenty-two months after capturing power General Pervez Musharraf announced the so-called Road Map to democracy that, he claimed, was in response to the directive of the Supreme Court.  He declared that the process of the restoration of democracy would be completed in the following four phases:

 

(i)                  District governments to replace existing local bodies, according to him, have already been set up.

(ii)                Proposed Constitutional amendments to introduce new mechanism of checks and balances would be finalized, and the package would be announced by June 30, 2002 for public debate and national consensus.

(iii)               After the completion of electoral rolls and delimitation of constituencies, the dates for Provincial and National Assemblies and the Senate would be announced in the first half of July next, and the elections would be held within eleven days from October 1, 2002 to October 11, 2002.

(iv)              The transfer of power would take place in the months of October and November with the oath taking of the MPAs, MNAs and Senators, followed by the election of Speakers, Deputy Speakers, Senate Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

 

Political analysts and constitutional experts called this Road Map hazy, uncertain, vague and meandering, while some of them called it a drama lacking sincerity of purpose. These observations are based on the following incontrovertible facts: -

 

FACT ONE

The government openly used its agencies, particularly the ISI, to get favorable results in the election of councilors, and more so in selection of Nazims and Naib Nazims for tehsils and districts.  The agencies resorted to most shameful rigging with threatening and coercing the candidates and the elected representatives, while official results in some districts have not yet been announced.

 

FACT TWO

The planners of the devolution of power have failed to clearly define jurisdiction between elected representatives and the district bureaucracy with the result that the local administration has come to a standstill in many districts.

 

FACT THREE

The delimitation of the constituencies by the Election Commission, which normally takes 12 to 16 months, has not been started with only eight months remaining in elections under the Road map. It means that satisfactory completion of delimitation is just not possible.

 

FACT FOUR

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), working under the military, has already failed in preparing fresh electoral rolls with the result that the “District Government” elections had to be held with old rolls. Now it is being claimed that fresh electoral rolls will be used in the general elections, which is not possible.

 

FACT FIVE

It was said in the Road Map that elections to the National and Provincial Assemblies as well as the Senate would be completed from October 1to October 11, 2002, but no program for the Senate elections was mentioned. It must be kept in mind that the process of electing Senators normally takes about six weeks.  A Road Map that is silent about a clear program for senate elections, while it is just impossible to hold these elections under the announced timeframe, reflects nothing but lack of wisdom, competence and sincerity on the part of its planners.

 FACT SIX

The Road map is also silent about the dates of election of the leader of the house (Prime Minister) and his swearing in, although the election of the Prime Minister, and transfer of power through him to the elected representatives, is the final and most important phase of general elections.  Despite this obvious shortcoming, the planners of the Road Map claim that it is an ideal plan!

  

RIGGING HAS ALREADY BEGUN

 FIRST RIGGING

The people might have put up with this Road map despite all its faults, but General Pervez Musharraf, made a mockery of law and Constitution, and flouting the internationally recognized norms and principles of democracy, launched pre-poll rigging eleven months before his own transfer of power program.  On November 11, 200, he declared that he would remain president.  The fact is that no one can become president until members of the National and Provincial Assemblies and the Senate elect a person in a free and impartial atmosphere according to the schedule given by the Election Commission.  However, General Musharraf has declared his presidency after rejecting the election process and trampling the constitutional and democratic principles. He has, thus, not only ridiculed his own Road Map, but has also made the entire electoral process a target of rigging.

 

SECOND RIGGING

General Musharraf has created doubts about the impartiality and transparency of the election process with appointing an extremely controversial person like retired Justice Irshad Hasan Khan as the Chief Election Commissioner. That is the second step towards pre-poll rigging. Irshad Hasan Khan is the person in whose “honor” the tradition of a full court reference could not be kept, because members of the Supreme Court Bar, and other prominent lawyers threatened to boycott the function.

 

Irshad Hasan Khan is the person who appointed junior judges to fill vacancies in the Supreme Court six days after his own retirement (on January 6, 2002).  Appointing junior judges was wrong, and anyway, the authority to make any appointment lay with his successor, Chief Justice Bashir Jehangiri.

 The appointment of Irshad Hasan Khan as Chief Election Commissioner is the worst example of favoritism.  The office was deliberately, and in violation of the Constitution, kept unfilled for many days for the sake of accommodating Irshad Hasan Khan.

 There would be “bright” chances of more rigging in days to come.  However, even if the government indulges in no more rigging, these two instances are so grave expecting free and impartial elections in their presence would amount to deceiving oneself.