ISLAMABAD - Former Senate chairman and PPP leader Mian Raza Rabbani on Saturday questioned the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision of giving magisterial powers to the army for the general election scheduled for July 25.

“The terms of reference under which the ECP has summoned the army for its assistance in the polls should come before us,” Rabbani said while speaking at a special sitting of the Senate soon after Caretaker Information Minister Barrister Ali Zafar told the House that the magisterial powers had been given to designated officers of the army on the polling day.

Coming down hard on the ECP, Rabbani asked officers of which ranks had been given these magisterial powers and questioned the decision of ECP to deploy to the army inside polling stations.  He said that the “question arise who these people are who have been given such powers and whether it is an effort to establish military courts.”

“At first, the ECP kept on saying that soldiers would be deployed outside polling stations. Now, it is saying these will also be deployed inside the polling stations,” he said and added: “What role they will play?”

Earlier, while taking part in the debate on the law and order and political situation in the country, Rabbani posed some questions to the ECP and said whether the commission was not seeing that the process of accountability was being extended in the election as an agenda.” “Only two major parties are being targeted,” he said in a direct reference to the PPP and the PML-N and also criticized the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

He also raised the issue of participation of activists of banned outfits in the election and asked under what law they were participating? He questioned the ECP whether it had asked from the Ministry of Interior and National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) about the details of these activists. “As many as 240 activists of banned outfits are taking part in the election,” he pointed out. “Whether the commission had sought the record of these people who are facing cases?” he said and added: “If it was sought, then how returning officers allowed them to participate in the elections.”

He said that there was a criminal silence of the ECP as the people of banned outfits and those in the Fourth Schedule — the anti-terror list, had been allowed to take part in the election.

Referring to a meeting of the caretaker home minister Punjab with some leaders of banned outfits, he criticized his remarks that the Fourth Schedule cases would be reviewed. He also said that media was being gagged and it was facing restrictions though it was an important part of free and fair elections.

He said whether the ECP was unable to see the PML-N leaders being arrested in Punjab on the return of convicted former minister Nawaz Sharif and if the ECP questioned the caretaker government about this?

Rabbani warned of “dire consequences” what he said if the elections were “engineered and efforts were made to bring test-tube babies to power”. He said that current events made it very clear that the caretaker government was biased. “The ECP has remained silent, as though it is being told something from somewhere else,” he claimed.

The caretaker information minister while winding up the debate said that information ministry was not involved in any kind of censorship. He said that there was an ECP’s code of conduct for the deployment of the army and it was being implemented. He said that facilities including ramps and washrooms for disabled persons had been provided at most polling stations.

Mainstreaming of extremist religious parties

Taking part in the debate, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Sherry Rehman also criticized the Punjab caretaker home minister for saying that he would remove certain names from the Fourth Schedule, and demanded his resignation.

She warned that the extremist religious organizations had been allowed to contest the elections in a bid to mainstream them and this exercise would have a dire consequence when these organizations would become part of the Parliament.

“Even if five activists of such organizations became part of the National Assembly, what kind of debates you would expect from the House,” she said. She said that an artificial polarization was being created in the society. She requested all political forces to reject such parties and do not allow them to come to the Parliament. She said that Pakistan would have to face consequences at the international level for bringing them into the Parliament.

She said the decision of the ECP to give magisterial powers to the army would lead to a conflict of powers between the army and presiding officers as who will lead in case of a controversy. “Whose orders will take precedence,” she said and added that this ambiguity should be rectified.

She also drew the Senate’s attention towards the threat alerts issued by NACTA about politicians and said that  PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was also part of the list.

The PPP leader also rejected rumours that her party was making seat adjustment with the party of former military dictator Ziaul Haq’s son, Ijazul Haq. She said that PPP could not enter into an alliance with PML-Zia as Ziaul Haq was the murderer of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the founder of the party.

Senator Rashid condemns Punjab government:

PML-N Senator Pervaiz Rashid also criticised a recent interview of Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Prof Hasan Askari with the foreign media in which he predicted that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) would get more seats in the elections while the number of seats of PML-N would decrease. He demanded that the caretaker chief minister should resign over his statement.

Rashid also raised questions over the transparency of accountability in the run-up to the polls and said favours were being given to a certain party to ensure its victory — a reference to the PTI. He added that bad treatment was being given to another party to ensure its defeat— a reference to the PML-N.

He said that terrorists were being made parliamentarians and vice versa. “Today we are in the grey list of FATF and if we went to the black List, the responsible one will be that institution who is doing this saying,” he said.

He went on to say that PML-N candidates were being summoned by courts while PTI leaders were being granted exemption.

“Yesterday, NAB’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, an anti-terrorism court and the ECP granted an exemption to PTI chief Imran Khan,” he said.

He demanded that the house should summon the ECP chief and NAB chairmen and ask them why some candidates were being treated like favourites while others treated like stepchildren.

Situation in Balochistan

National Party Senator Ashok Kumar told the House that Raza Rabbani had raised valid questions as all political parties except one have shown their concerns over the transparency of elections. He pointed out that internet access in some six districts of Balochistan had been cut off, disrupting communication in the province. He said that if this kind of situation remained in the province then everyone knew what kind of elections will take place there.

On this, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to restore internet services in Balochistan.

Interior committee report

PPP Senator Rehman Malik showed his surprise that secretary election commission in its briefing to the Senate Interior Committee had told that magisterial powers had been given only to returning officers and the army would be deployed only outside the polling stations. He also submitted the report of the committee on the security situation for the upcoming polls on which objections were raised by some members of the committee.

PML-N Senator Javed Abbasi objected that the report included a resolution passed by the committee appreciating the role of the ECP and the army in conducting free and fair elections. He said that he would give his dissenting note on the resolution that should be made part of the report. Another PML-N Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed said that conversation with Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor in the committee meeting had not been made part of the report. “I had asked the DG ISPR whether he knew what questioned Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui has raised about the army and if the army deviated from its duty, it would be a recipe for devastation.”