Election results unacceptable if PPP loses: BB

* Former premier says PML-N should stand second in polls
* Demands abolishment of LGs
* Says some madrassas groom killers

LARKANA: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto warned on Sunday that if the PPP did not emerge as the winner – and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz as a second – in the general elections, the results would be unacceptable.

Benazir, addressing a rally in Larkana, said that not only would the results not be accepted but a protest would erupt much the same way as in the Philippines and Ukraine, arguing that she was taking this stand because an international survey had predicted that the PML stood no chance in the elections. “If the votes of the masses are snatched, the PPP, with the PML-N and other opposition parties, will protest,” she said at a big public meeting at the Municipal Stadium here. “The government is trying to block the PPP’s passage.”

The former premier also demanded that the Election Commission (EC) of Pakistan suspend the local governments before the general elections, as her party would not accept a “ghunda force” (thug force) upsetting the polling.

“There is no need to recruit the police force for only three days ... they will bring their thugs in police uniform,” she said in a veiled reference to the use of government machinery. “We will not accept this. If force is needed to maintain law and order on the polling days, the EC should call in the Pakistan Rangers or Pakistan Army but not the thug force.”

Madrassas condemned: Benazir strongly condemned the Charsadda attack but argued that barricades have been put up for those who demand democracy while extremists roamed free. “We respect the original madrassas,” she said. “We received our education in Islam from the ulema of the madrassas but in ‘political madrassas’ no Islamic education is being delivered. They are teaching children how to make bombs, how to use guns, how to kill women, children and the elderly. It is not permitted in Islam, even in war, for anyone to harm a child, woman or the elderly.”

She accused the land mafias in Lahore and Karachi of deliberately perpetuating the flour crisis with impunity, since no action was ever taken against them or smugglers.

Benazir accused the government of failing to crush Islamic militants, referring to the suicide bombing that killed at least 60 people during Eid prayers in a mosque in Charsadda, reported AP.

Earlier on Saturday, Benazir said that talks with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and other political parties regarding seat adjustments were underway, reported NNI.

Talking to journalists after visiting the grave of her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at Garhi Khuda Bux, Benazir said that talks between the PPP and PML-N were underway and adjustment at 10 to 15 seats was likely.

However, she said, it was very difficult for PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to immediately withdraw his party candidates. Talks with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan and Awami National Party were also ongoing, she said. She repeated her allegations that nazims were using government vehicles and other resources for the government-backed candidates in their electioneering, according to NNI.

Also on Saturday, Benazir claimed that her party would form the government after the general elections on January 8, according to APP.

She was addressing separate rallies at Bus Stand Ratodero (Larkana) and in Shahdadkot town. She said January 8 would be another Eid for the PPP. qazi asif/agencies

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Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.