Author:
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: September 30, 2002
URL: http://in.news.yahoo.com/020930/137/1vtnw.html
Pakistan's military ruler General
Pervez Musharraf warned foreign election observers on Monday against making
comments ahead of polls designed to restore civilian rule, the official
APP news agency reported.
The warning came a day after a newspaper
reported that European Union observers had criticised the political manoeuvring
that has kept former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif out
of the October 10 polls.
Musharraf said international monitors
should restrict themselves to observing the transparency of the elections
and refrain from making comments on Pakistan's political culture.
"They might be having knowledge
of political cultures of their own countries but we understand better about
local politics," he was quoted as saying.
Pakistani officials rejected Bhutto's
bid to stand in the elections, saying she had been convicted in July of
failing to appear in court to answer corruption charges. Bhutto has been
living in self-imposed exile for the past three years.
Sharif was overthrown in Musharraf's
bloodless 1999 coup and then exiled to Saudi Arabia. He bowed out of the
contest to show solidarity with Bhutto but election tribunals barred his
brother and wife from contesting the polls.
The independent Daily Times newspaper
quoted an interim report from the EU observers as saying the disqualification
of the Sharif family had no legal basis while the exclusion of Bhutto was
"highly questionable".
Musharraf accuses both leaders of
corruption and has vowed to arrest them if they return.
Musharraf extended his rule for
five years through a controversial referendum in April and introduced several
constitutional amendments that critics say will cement his grip on power
even after a return to civilian rule.
