Forty Afghan Taliban this week, claims Isaf

KABUL: Afghan and Nato-led troops have killed 40 Taliban insurgents in offensives this week in eastern Afghanistan, coalition forces said on Tuesday.

“The joint force has killed approximately 40 Taliban fighters and captured eight key Taliban facilitators in recent days,” the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said in a statement.

It said the ongoing operation, which began on Saturday and involves air strikes, uncovered arms and vests for use in suicide attacks.

A Taliban spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Flood recovery could take years, says Zardari

KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari warned the country could take three years or more to recover from near-month long floods as authorities battled to protect cities from rising waters.

The floods have killed 1,500 people and affected up to 20 million nationwide in the country's worst natural disaster, with the threat of disease ever present in the camps sheltering survivors.

“Your guess is as good as mine, but three years is a minimum,” Zardari told reporters when asked how long it would take Pakistan to go through relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation after the floods.

“I don't think Pakistan will ever fully recover but we will move on,” the president added, saying the government was working to protect people from future flooding.

Zardari was denounced for failing to cut short a visit to Europe at the start of the disaster, and while he defended that decision, he acknowledged that some criticism of the government's response was justified.

“There will always be a 'could have been better, would have been better, should have been better'... (but) you have to understand how enormous the issue (the scale of the disaster) is,” he said.

US support of Pakistan ‘strategic mistake’: Spanta

WASHINGTON: A senior Afghan official is urging the United States to re-evaluate its friendship with Pakistan, accusing the country of supporting Al-Qaeda and other extremists.

Writing in Monday's Washington Post, Afghanistan's national security adviser Rangin Dadfar Spanta said Pakistani policy has helped maintain a level of violence that is leading to the erosion of western support for the war.

US-led troops are deployed with a mission to fight extremist groups, but the task “has been compounded by another strategic failure: the mistaken embrace of 'strategic partners' who have, in fact, been nurturing terrorism,” he wrote.

“While we are losing dozens of men and women to terrorist attacks every day, the terrorists' main mentor continues to receive billions of dollars in aid and assistance. How is this fundamental contradiction justified?” Spanta wrote.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have long had a fraught relationship. Pakistan was a supporter of the Taliban regime but switched sides after the September 11, 2001 attacks, becoming the frontline US partner.

US officials credit Pakistan with stepping up the fight against home-grown Taliban, including through a blistering assault in its tribal northwest last year, but many believe Pakistani intelligence has maintained links with extremists targeting Afghanistan and India.

Spanta acknowledged bluntly that international support has dropped for the Afghan campaign, writing: “Global opinion has also turned against us.”

While acknowledging western concerns were partially due to Afghanistan's corruption, Spanta also pointed to Pakistan, saying: “We have failed to mobilise people for a cause where the fighting is in one place and the enemy is in another.”

Many experts believe that Pakistan' top goal in Afghanistan is ensuring it can exert influence after the US pullout. US President Barack Obama wants to start removing combat troops in mid-2011.

US troop figures in Iraq below 50,000: military

BAGHDAD: The number of American soldiers in Iraq has dropped below 50,000 ahead of an August 31 declaration of an end to combat operations, the US military said Tuesday.

“US military force levels in Iraq are below 50,000,” it said in a statement. “US military forces will transition to Operation New Dawn, effective September 1, 2010.”

The last American brigade designated as a “combat brigade” left Iraq and crossed into Kuwait on Thursday. All remaining US brigades in Iraq are labelled “advise and assist” brigades.

Shortly after coming into office in 2009, President Barack Obama pledged that the US would end combat operations in Iraq by the end of August, at which point troop figures would drop below 50,000.

That is less than a third of the peak figure of around 170,000 during “the surge” of 2007, when Iraq was in the midst of a brutal insurgency.

All American soldiers must leave Iraq by the end of 2011, under a bilateral security pact.

The withdrawal comes amid a political impasse in Iraq which has seen no new government formed since parliamentary elections in March, which resulted in no single party winning a majority. —AFP

Pakistan-New Zealand itinerary altered for World Cup

WELLINGTON: Pakistan cricket team’s tour of New Zealand will feature fewer Tests and more one-day matches to help the teams prepare for next year’s World Cup, according to the itinerary released on Tuesday.

The number of Tests has been cut from three to two with the one-day schedule expanded to six games in addition to three Twenty20 matches.

“As part of our lead-in to the World Cup, we have agreed with the Pakistan Cricket Board to play more short-form cricket to prepare optimally,” New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said.

“We have agreed to move from three Tests to two to allow the addition of another ODI and three Twenty20 internationals, which makes sense for both teams in the final weeks before the World Cup commences.”

The 2011 Cricket World Cup, to be co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, runs from February 19 to April 2.

Pakistan’s tour of New Zealand will start in December with the Twenty20 internationals to be followed by the Tests and then the one-day series. —AFP

Tour schedule

Twenty20 internationals
December 26 – at Eden Park, Auckland.
December 28 – at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
December 30 – at AMI Stadium, Christchurch.

Tests
January 7-11 – at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
January 15-19 – at the Basin Reserve, Wellington.

One-day internationals
January 22 – at Westpac Stadium, Wellington.
January 26 – at Queenstown Events Centre, Queenstown.
January 29 – at AMI Stadium, Christchurch.
February 1 – at McLean Park, Napier.
February 3 – at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
February 5 – at Eden Park, Auckland.

President Zardari defends govt flood response

SHAHDADKOT: President Asif Ali Zardari defended the government's much-criticised response to the country's record-breaking flood crisis as emergency workers worked frantically to shore up a system of levees protecting two southern cities.

The floods, which began nearly a month ago with hammering rains in the country's northwest, have affected more than 17 million people, a UN official said, warning that the crisis was outstripping relief efforts. About 1,500 people have died in the floods, most in the first few days, though the crisis continues to grow.

President Zardari said that anger at the government in the coming months is inevitable given the scale of the disaster, comparing it to the anti-government sentiment generated by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

''There will be discontent, there is no way any nation, even a superpower....can bring the same level of satisfaction that will be close to the expectations of the people,'' Zardari said in an interview Monday with a small group of foreign reporters in the capital, Islamabad. ''Surely we will try and meet them as much as we can.''

Still, he defended his handling of the crisis and said the government ''had functioned to its fullest capacity.''

The widespread misery of the floods has triggered speculation of social unrest, food riots or even a challenge to the government's rule before its term ends in 2013.

The floods have so far destroyed or damaged 1.2 million homes and affected 17.2 million people, UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said.

''The floods are outrunning our relief efforts. We move faster and faster, but the finish line keeps moving further ahead,'' Giuliano said.

In Shahdadkot, in the province of Sindh, authorities are increasingly worried that even the 10 miles (18 kilometres) of new levees soldiers have built may not hold back floods in the city, and Qambar city further to the south.

Workers piled stones and sandbags to plug leaks in the levees, trying to stay ahead of any damage to the defences.

''It is the last-ditch effort to save the city,'' said Brig Khawar Baig. ''We are trying to block the water here. If it crosses over, we fear it will go further south and inundate more towns.''

Ninety per cent of Shadad Kot's 350,000 residents have already fled the city. Many have also left Qambar and other nearby towns.

On the eastern side of the city, levees were under pressure from 9-foot-high floodwaters, said Yaseen Shar, the top administrative official.

Zardari has been criticised for traveling to Europe on a 10-day trip just as the crisis was unfolding. The anger against the already unpopular president among some sections of the media has left him looking more politically isolated than ever.

''I have my own reasons for being where I was at what times,'' he said, saying his meetings with the leaders of France and Great Britain were essential.

Zardari's party has a solid majority and there is no constitutional mechanism to get rid of him before elections. Historically the army in Pakistan has stepped in to end civilian rule, but analysts agree the current crop of generals do not want to enter into politics.

Asked whether there may be political consequences from the floods, Zardari said: ''Anybody can lose the coming election and some other political force can win,'' he said, adding that he still thought his Pakistan's Peoples Party would emerge victorious.

The floodwaters have devastated lives from the mountainous north to the southern plains, and they are expected to begin draining into the Arabian Sea in the coming days.

Hundreds of people who fled the deluge blocked a highway near the town of Kot Addu in the Punjab province to protest the slow pace of aid deliveries.

''No food came here for the last two days...we can wait — children can't,'' said Mohammad Iqbal, one of about 400 protesters.

Local charities, the army and international agencies are providing food, water, medicine and shelter to the displaced, but millions have received little or no help. Aid officials warn that waterborne diseases such as cholera now pose a threat.

On Sunday, the government said the world has given or pledged more than $800 million of aid. — AP

‘Over 200 deaths occurred at Sindh IDP camps so far’

KARACHI: As the total number of people affected by the raging floods in Sindh surged to 454,693 till Sunday evening, more than 200 internally displaced people have been reported dead so far at the camps set up by the provincial health department across the province. Sixty babies have been born at the camps.

A senior health department official told APP on Monday that 202 deaths had been reported from 563 camps established for IDPs early this month in all 18 districts of the province.

Until now, more than 100,000 flood survivors were provided treatment by health staff in the affected areas and at the camps.

A total of 29,704 displaced persons were treated for a range of diseases at these camps on Sunday alone, he added.

The official said that apart from the staff at these camps, 117 mobile teams of his department were also providing health care facilities to flood victims in the affected areas.

The official stated that 4,799 cases of malaria were handled by health department teams on Sunday bringing the total number of such cases attended by them to 52,153. Another 60,928 patients with diarrhoea reported at the camps which brought the total number of such cases to 77,568.

He said that the number of patients treated for gastroenteritis was 16,740, skin diseases 85,902, heat stroke 1,993, eye infection 7,1531 (3,000 on Sunday alone) and various other diseases was 9,500.

The official said that 10,664 patients were vaccinated against Hepatitis B.

‘Pneumonia commonest ailment’

Medical teams of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplant serving in all four provinces have identified pneumonia as the commonest ailment among children.

The teams treated more than 35,000 flood affected people and found that about 50 per cent of these patients were children with pneumonia.

The other diseases affecting most of the patients were gastroenteritis, skin infection and malaria. Besides, snake-bite, scorpion-bite and heat stroke were reported in a big number. SIUT teams under the supervision of Dr Adib Rizvi had started their work at Jamsher Bund near Pir-Jo-Goth in Khairpur district and then established camp at Sujawal and Sukkur in Sindh. Mobile medical teams have also been providing medical treatment to marooned people across the province.

CDGK hosts over 29,000 survivors

Karachi Administrator Fazlur Rehman has said that the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) was hosting over 29,000 flood survivors in a better manner despite its limited resources.

“Providing food and clean water to such a large number of people on a daily basis is not an easy task but the city government is doing the job efficiently,” he said in a statement issued here on Monday.

During his visit to relief camps, the administrator inspected arrangements made for the internally displaced people, and noted that over 29,000 people had so far taken shelter at the CDGK relief camps.

He said the IDPs were being provided with comfortable accommodation, food and health facilities. He said that doctors and paramedical staff as well as necessary medicines were made available at all 29 CDGK relief camps.

“We are also making efforts to provide them with new clothes, shoes and crockery on Eid-ul-Fitr,” said the administrator, adding that the city government had also undertaken measures to set up more relief camps in the city.

School for IDPs’ children

The first temporary primary school for children of internally displaced people was inaugurated on Monday by Adviser to the Chief Minister Sharmila Farooqui on Monday.

More than 400 children were registered with the three-room primary school established at the Labour Colony, Gulshan-i-Maymar, Gadap Town.

Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) played the key role in the establishment of the school with the aim of avoiding further disruption in the educational activities of IDPs’ children.

Ms Farooqui, speaking at the inauguration ceremony, said that children aged five and above were enrolled at the temporary school in classes 1 to V and the figure was planned to be raised to 2,000 with the enrolments up to class X.

Tiger Woods, wife officially divorced

WASHINGTON: Tiger Woods and Swedish model wife Elin Nordegren divorced on Monday, their marriage “irretrievably broken” by a blistering sex scandal that has left the world number one golfer’s life in disarray.

Woods, 34, and Nordegren, 30, issued an amicable joint statement, saying they were sad to be ending their six-year marriage, wishing each other the best and promising to work together for their children’s happiness.

“We are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future,” it said.

“While we are no longer married, we are the parents of two wonderful children and their happiness has been, and will always be, of paramount importance to both of us.”

In Nordegren’s petition for divorce, filed at the beginning of July, she claimed the marriage was “irretrievably broken” and asked for her maiden name to be restored.

Woods and Nordegren attended Monday’s execution of the divorce at a court in Panama City, Florida, where they agreed to “share parenting” of their children. Both had attended the obligatory parenting classes, the court documents showed.

Woods wed Nordegren, a former model, in October 2004 in Barbados and the couple have a three-year-old daughter, Sam, and a 19-month-old son, Charlie.

“Once we came to the decision that our marriage was at an end, the primary focus of our amicable discussions has been to ensure their future well-being,” their joint statement said.

“The weeks and months ahead will not be easy for them as we adjust to a new family situation, which is why our privacy must be a principal concern.”

Nordegren’s lawyer, contacted by AFP, could provide no information about the terms of her divorce settlement, valued in media reports at anywhere between 100 million and 500 million dollars.

Woods’s spectacular fall from grace began on November 27 last year when he crashed his car into a tree and a fire hydrant near his Orlando home.

The incident touched off a massive sex scandal, leading to his admission of adultery and subsequent decision to put his golf career on hold while he tried to rescue his marriage.

“It may not be possible to repair the damage I’ve done, but I want to do my best to try,” Woods wrote on his website.

“I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children.”

Long seen as an ambassador for a new generation of golfers, Woods’s previous clean-cut image had earned him record sponsorship deals and a place in the select pantheon of globally-known sports stars.

According to Forbes business magazine, he was the first athlete to have broken through the billion dollars earnings mark.

That image was decimated in the weeks after the car crash as a string of women, including a porn star, a cocktail waitress and a Las Vegas club manager were romantically linked to the sporting superstar.

Later Woods apologized publicly to Nordegren for igniting the tabloid frenzy in which more than a dozen women claimed affairs, saying he had been “living a lie” and admitting to “doing some ugly things.”

In what was widely seen as a bid to save his marriage, Woods was treated for sex addiction at a clinic in Mississippi before making his highly anticipated comeback at the USMasters in March.

Returning at the Augusta National – a comfortable setting where he has captured four titles, his first in 1997 being the first major crown won by a black golfer – Woods finished a respectable fourth.

Since then, however, a string of performances ranging from mediocre to poor have seen many question whether the 14-time major winner is capable of recapturing the form that saw him dominate the game for a decade.

A disappointing tie for 28th earlier this month at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wisconsin came just one week after the worst performance of his career when he finished second to last at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.

Nine months after the sex scandal first broke, Woods enters this week’s opening event of the US PGA Tour season-ending playoffs without a win this year.

Stripped of his invincible aura, he ranks only 108th in the points race and could at any moment lose his number one ranking.

Without a good finish at The Barclays starting on Thursday in New Jersey, it could be his final outing of the season, as only the top 100 qualify for the next event.

US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin is yet to say if Woods will be one of his four wild-card picks for the Ryder Cup – the biennial tournament against the best European golfers – contested this October at the Celtic Manor in Wales. – AFP

Mexico's Jimena Navarrete crowned Miss Universe

LAS VEGAS: Mexico's Jimena Navarrete was crowned Miss Universe on Monday in an upset victory that stunned a pageant world which had predicted a winner to emerge from Ireland, Venezuela or the United States.

The 22-year-old from Guadalajara, resplendent in a flowing ruby-red evening gown, said she plans to study nutritional science but has been modeling since she was 15.

She is expected to spend her year as Miss Universe drawing attention to the plight of people with HIV/AIDS and breast cancer, according to pageant officials.

Beyond the diamond-encrusted tiara affixed to her head moments after Miss Jamaica, 24-year-old Yendi Phillipps, was declared the runner-up, Navarrete receives a one-year scholarship to the New York Film Academy, a year's supply of shoes, dresses and hair products. Her coronation ends the reign of outgoing Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez, 19, of Venezuela.

The two-hour finale was devoid of political controversy that has erupted in past years at this event, even as the last five contestants each fielded a question.

Navarrete's question, which came from Olympic gold medalist skater Evan Lysacek, asked her for her views on what to do about the problem of children using the Internet without proper supervision.

She responded vaguely but, evidently, adequately. “I do believe that the Internet is an indispensable, necessary tool for the present time,” said Navarrete, the first Mexican winner of the contest since 1991.

“We must be sure to teach them the values that we learned as a family.”

The judges, clearly, were satisfied. Former Miss USA judge Alicia Jacobs, seated in the Events Center a row ahead of Miss Universe owner Donald Trump, said Navarrete was a shoo-in once the final five were announced. – AFP

MQM slams killing of ANP lawmaker’s brother

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Monday condemned the killing of a younger brother of an Awami National Party lawmaker and demanded immediate arrest of the killers.

In a statement issued here, the MQM’s coordination committee said that some unscrupulous elements were trying to disturb the peace in the city by targeting workers and leaders of religious and political parties and their relatives.

Terming the killing of Asif Jan — the younger brother of ANP MNA Pervaiz Khan shot dead in the city — a conspiracy to destabilise the city, the MQM offered condolences to the central leadership of the ANP and the bereaved family.

Meanwhile, MQM leader Muhammad Anwar telephoned ANP leader Afrasiyab Khattak and expressed condolences to him over the killing.

Some 200 women gang-raped near Congo UN base

JOHANNESBURG: Rwandan and Congolese rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days within miles of a UN peacekeepers' base in an eastern Congo mining district, an American aid worker and a Congolese doctor said.

Will F. Cragin of the International Medical Corps said Monday that aid and UN workers knew rebels had occupied Luvungi town and surrounding villages in eastern Congo the day after the attack began on July 30.

More than three weeks later, the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo has issued no statement about the atrocities and said Monday it still is investigating.

Cragin told The Associated Press by telephone that his organization was only able to get into the town, which he said is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from a UN military camp, after rebels ended their brutal spree of raping and looting and withdrew of their own accord on Aug. 4.

At UN headquarters in New York, spokesman Martin Nesirky said Monday that a UN Joint Human Rights team verified allegations of the rape of at least 154 women by combatants from the Rwandan rebel FDLR group and Congolese Mai-Mai rebels in the village of Bunangiri. He said the victims are receiving medical and psycho-social care.

Nesirky said the UN peacekeeping mission has a military company operating base in Kibua, some 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) east of the village, but he said FDLR attackers blocked the road and prevented villagers from reaching the nearest communication point.

Civil society leader Charles Masudi Kisa said there were only about 25 peacekeepers and that they did what they could against some 200 to 400 rebels who occupied the town of about 2,200 people and five nearby villages.

''When the peacekeepers approached a village, the rebels would run into the forest, but then the Blue Helmets had to move on to another area, and the rebels would just return,'' Masudi said.

There was no fighting and no deaths, Cragin said, just ''lots of pillaging and the systematic raping of women.''

Four young boys also were raped, said Dr. Kasimbo Charles Kacha, the district medical chief. Masudi said they were babies aged one month, six months, a year and 18 months.

''Many women said they were raped in their homes in front of their children and husbands, and many said they were raped repeatedly by three to six men,'' Cragin said. Others were dragged into the nearby forest.

International and local health workers have treated 179 women but the number raped could be much higher as terrified civilians still are hiding, he said.

''We keep going back and identifying more and more cases,'' he said. ''Many of the women are returning from the forest naked, with no clothes.''

He said that by the time they got help it was too late to administer medication against AIDS and contraception to all but three of the survivors.

Spokeswoman Stefania Trassari said her UN Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid was monitoring the situation but that access for humanitarian workers remains ''very limited due to insecurity.''

Luvungi is a farming center on the main road between Goma, the eastern provincial capital, and the major mining town of Walikale.

Kacha said on one day during the rebel occupation Indian peacekeepers had provided a military escort against the rebels to a large commercial truck traveling from Kemba to Luvungi, which is near a cassiterite mine and about 88 miles (140 kilometers) south of Goma.

UN mission spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai promised to get military comment on the assumption that the peacekeepers were protecting commercial goods but not civilians, which is their primary mandate.

Survivors said their attackers were from the FDLR that includes perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide who fled across the border to Congo in 1994 and have been terrorizing the population in eastern Congo ever since, according to Cragin. The Rwandans were accompanied by Mai-Mai rebels, he said, quoting survivors.

Masudi, the civil society leader, said the rebels arrived after Congolese army troops without explanation redeployed from Luvungi and its surroundings to Walikale. He said this happened after some soldiers deserted and joined rebels in the forest.

Rape as a weapon of war has become shockingly commonplace in eastern Congo, where at least 8,300 rapes were reported last year, according to the United Nations. It is believed that many more rapes go unreported.

Congo's army and UN peacekeepers have been unable to defeat the many rebel groups responsible for the long drawn-out conflict in eastern Congo, which is fueled by the area's massive mineral reserves. Gold, cassiterite and coltan are some of the minerals mined in the area near Luvungi, with soldiers and rebels competing for control of lucrative mines that give them little incentive to end the fighting.

''The minerals are our curse with the FDLR looting on one side and the soldiers looting on the other,'' said Masudi. – AP

Pakistan can adjust current program or opt out: IMF

WASHINGTON: Pakistan faces hard choices as it decides how to allocate scarce resources for rebuilding following devastating floods, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Monday on the first day of economic talks with Pakistani officials.

Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department, said in an interview that while the catastrophe was still unfolding, it was clear the floods will have “a major and lasting impact” on Pakistan's economy.

Pakistani Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh will join the talks in Washington on Wednesday, but he has already said he wants the IMF to ease restrictions on the $11 billion loan program approved for Pakistan in 2008.

Ahmed said the options available to the Pakistanis are to adjust the current Pakistan IMF program to factor in fiscal pressures arising from the floods, or to opt for emergency funding provided by the IMF to countries hit by natural disaster.

Even before the floods, Pakistan's economy had been pounded by a two-year financial crisis. The floods are set to compound the country's economic woes as the government is forced to deal with a growing humanitarian crisis, widespread damage to food crops and infrastructure, and lower tax revenues.

Ahmed said the talks will focus on the impact the floods will have on growth, inflation, and the budget.

“They will have to make hard choices in reallocating government investments toward higher priorities and find ways to mobilize the resources,” Ahmed told Reuters Television.

He said foreign aid will be vital to help the government cope given domestic funding constraints.

“Despite all that, what this makes even more imperative is that the international community, which has been active in helping Pakistan, will need to redouble its efforts to help the country overcome some of its difficulties imposed by this catastrophe,” Ahmed added.

As Pakistan appeals for aid, there are misgivings among donors about corruption and how well the money will be spent.

“One of the key areas in which we can help is to put in place a macro-economic framework that provides some stability and within which resources that are used can be rationally allocated,” Ahmed said.

“Beyond that, both the government and the key donors are very conscious of the fact that initial resources ... will need to be used both effectively and transparently to generate the kind of confidence that will ensure these resources continue to be mobilized.” – Reuters

EC not to ignore ‘breach of election rules by PM’

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan indicated on Monday it would not ignore breach of election rules by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who has been accused by some politicians and members of civil society of distributing state funds during election campaigns for candidates of his Pakistan People’s Party.

“Though our policy is not individual or person specific, yet we will not ignore all that is happening. We have taken notice of it and will do something about it,” an ECP official told Dawn.

He said the chief election commissioner had the powers to decide on matters where rules were silent about violation of certain provisions.

The opposition and civil society have accused Mr Gilani of consistently addressing election rallies of PPP candidates, announcing development schemes and visiting constituencies on state expense with full protocol of prime minister.

The Pakistan Institute for Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat), a leading NGO, had on Aug 3 sought a clarification from the CEC whether or not the prime minister’s address at election rallies and announcement of development projects constituted violation of electoral laws or code of conduct.

In a letter addressed to the CEC, Pildat said there were numerous precedents where the Election Commission of India had barred prime ministers, ministers and chief ministers from using state resources for electioneering. The announcement of any development project during election was a serious offence in India, leading at times to disqualification of candidates, it added.

“Pildat feels that continuing use of state resources and announcement of development projects at election rallies by the prime minister is damaging credibility of the democratic and electoral process in the country.

“The Election Commission’s continuous silence at the apparent violations of electoral ethics and the code of conduct is extremely disturbing and damaging the concept of rule of law.

“The practice is not only being followed by the prime minister but also by ministers and advisers of provincial governments, especially in Punjab,” the letter said.

Former information minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Q Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Syed has criticised the prime minister for violating ECP rules in disregard of the supremacy of law by the bigwigs of the ruling party.