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Home , Asif Ali Zardari, Daily Times (Pakistan), Pakistan Peoples Party, Sassui Palijo, Sherry Rehman

Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA

RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE

Research Response Number: PAK32938 Country: Date: 26 February 2008

Keywords: Pakistan – NWFP – Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) – Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarian (PPPP) – Elections – Membership cards

This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein.

Questions

1. Please provide an update regarding the treatment of members of the PPPP in Pakistan generally, and in the NWFP specifically, since Benazhir Bhutto’s assassination on 27 December 2007. 2. How easily can a person obtain a membership card for the PPPP?

RESPONSE

1. Please provide an update regarding the treatment of members of the PPPP in Pakistan generally, and in the NWFP specifically, since Benazhir Bhutto’s assassination on 27 December 2007.

The Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) is described in the text Political Parties of the World as a “reinvention” of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for the purpose of allowing its candidates for the October 2002 election to comply with new electoral regulations (Szajkowski, B. (ed) 2005, Political Parties of the World, John Harper Publishing, London, pp.459-60 – Attachment 1). Information about the PPPP in the Political Handbook of the World: 2007 similarly observes that:

To get around a proscription against the electoral participation of any party having a convicted criminal as an officeholder, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) organized the legally separate PPPP in August 2002 (Banks, A.S., Muller, T.C. & Overstreet, W.R. (eds) 2007, Political Handbook of the World: 2007, CQ Press, Washington, pp.939-40 – Attachment 2).

The website of the PPP makes no reference to the PPPP as a separate organisation and the two acronyms are used somewhat interchangeably in the Pakistani press. Searches undertaken for this research response therefore jointly focussed on the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarian.

The treatment of members of the PPP in the lead up to the elections on 18 February 2008 was characterised by the party as “continued vicitimization”. An article dated 27 January 2008 on the PPP website makes the following comments:

Pakistan Peoples Party has condemned the continued victimization of Party workers as “a planned and orchestrated pre-poll rigging” by hounding the activists to keep them away from elections.

Arrest warrants of a dozen PPP leaders, including six former MPAs, were issued in Saturday for allegedly creating law and order situation in the city after the murder of Party’s Information Secretary Munawar Suharwardy three years ago. Former PPP MPAs Nisar Ahmed Khuro, , Mazhar Marvi, Sassui Palejo, Mehreen Bhutto and Sharfunissa Leghari were declared absconders, their names ordered to published in the newspapers and the police directed to arrest them.

Simultaneously the police in Sindh registered cases against another over one hundred Party workers on charges of blocking Dadu-Larkana Road and burning tyres late on Friday night in protest against the arrest of Party workers. Using the blind FIRs as pretext the police raided houses of workers and misbehaved with the women folk. Thousands of workers were previously nominated in criminal cases following disturbances in the wake of martyrdom of Mohtarma Bhutto.

“The registration of new cases and reopening of the several years old cases only to implicate Party leaders and workers was clearly designed to put pressure and disable them on the eve of elections”, Co-Chairman of the Party Senator said in a statement today.

He said that under such circumstances when candidates and voters were subjected to intimidation and complaints against it remained unattended with a powerless Election Commission the elections would neither be free nor fair.

He demanded immediate release of the Party workers and withdrawal of false and fictitious cases against them as well as an end to the practice of registering blind FIRs for use against political workers at a later date.

The Party calls upon the international community to press Musharraf regime to desist from electoral manipulation by arresting and intimidating Party workers and candidates on fictitious charges just when the election was a few days away, he said (‘Asif Zardari condemns victimization of Party workers’ 2008, Pakistan People’s Party website, 27 January http://www.ppp.org.pk/news_event/jan/28-1-2008.html – Accessed 26 February 2008 – Attachment 3).

An article dated 14 February 2008 on the same website provides further detailed reports of adverse treatment of party members prior to the elections:

In the run up to polls, the biggest of Pakistan, the PPP, has repeatedly found itself at the receiving end of election-related violence. Countrywide, the PPP workers and supporters have suffered violence, harassment and intimidation by government officials as well as by the political supporters of the Musharraf regime. On the night between Feb 13 and 14, a PPP election procession at Drigh Road, Cantt Bazaar, Karachi was fired at by MQM men who killed a 27-year-old PPP supporter Qaiser Bangash. The indiscriminate bullet spray also injured six PPP men, including Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Deen Abbasi, Irfan, Rafiq, Noman and Kamran. Karachi violence comes on the heels of a spate of bloody events targeting PPP, including October 19 massacre, Mohtarma ’s assassination and killing and harassment of PPP workers all across the country, said Central Information Secretary Pakistan People Party. She said that the Karachi firing was completely unprovoked and was aimed at inciting violence, “something we have been strictly refraining from despite suffering worst tragedies in the last three months.”

Rehman said that targeting the PPP perfectly fulfils the agenda of those who wish to create fear and chaos ahead of elections. “For long, and elements opposed to democracy have targeted the PPP in a bid to kill the democratic aspirations of the people of Pakistan. The continued violence against the PPP is a way to dissuade people from participating in political process and to compel them to stay away from political activities for fear of life” (‘PPP Warns Against Continued Spate of Violence Against The Party’ 2008, Pakistan People’s Party website, 14 February http://www.ppp.org.pk/news_event/feb/15-2- 2008.html – Accessed 26 February 2008 – Attachment 4). A Human Rights Watch report dated 12 February 2008 focusses on the response of the authorities to “irregularities” in the lead up to the election, observing that:

Since the official election period commenced in November 2007, the Election Commission of Pakistan has ignored allegations of widespread irregularities, including arrests and harassment of opposition candidates and party members, and the misuse of state resources, administration and state machinery to the advantage of candidates backed by President .

“There have been numerous complaints of improper government assistance to the ruling party and illegal interference with opposition activities,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “But the election commission has done nothing significant to address these problems, raising serious questions about its impartiality.”

Human Rights Watch said that the Election Commission has taken virtually no action on the widespread harassment of opposition candidates through the registration of police cases against them, police obstruction of opposition rallies, and the removal of lawful opposition banners and billboards.

Human Rights Watch has documented the involvement of the local administration in helping Musharraf-backed candidates, particularly in and Sindh provinces. For example:

…

In Thatta district, Sindh province, police have been obstructing the opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) by not giving security clearance to its candidates to hold public meetings. The PPP’s Sassui , the only directly elected opposition party member in Thatta district, told Human Rights Watch that the administration has been interfering in their campaigns since the previous local bodies’ elections. “Now they are doing it again. They remove flags, banners after our party workers put them up. … We tell the election commission everything and show them evidence every three days. But they have done nothing to help us at all so far.” Palijo said that a PPP worker, Nawaz Ali Shah Qudusani, had to “go underground” after he went ahead with a rally that the local mayor had warned him against holding; police raided his house and arrested three people.

Candidates have sent in more than 1,500 complaints of irregularities from around the country, few of which have been investigated. Even visible violations, like the use of electoral banners on government offices, have been ignored. The secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan, Kunwar Dilshad, denied responsibility, telling Human Rights Watch that the commission, which is dependent on the district-level judiciary to investigate these complaints, is helpless to investigate or act if judges send no evidence (‘Election Commission Not Impartial’ 2008, Human Rights Watch, 12 February – Attachment 5). On 17 February 2008, CNN reported an attack targetting the PPP in northern Pakistan in the days before the election. The report states that:

A car bomb killed 40 people and wounded 90 Saturday in northern Pakistan when it exploded in front of an election office of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party, the Pakistani Interior Ministry said.

The bombing comes two days before Pakistan’s much-delayed parliamentary elections.

Some of those killed were workers for the PPP, which opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto led before her assassination in December.

The blast occurred in Parachinar as a PPP rally was ending and people were gathering for refreshments, said retired Brig. Gen. Cheema, an Interior Ministry spokesman.

PPP parliamentary candidate Riaz Hussein was using the office, according to party spokesman Nazir Dhoki. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack (‘Car bomb kills 40 ahead of Pakistan vote’ 2008, CNN, 17 February http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/16/pakistan/index.html#cnnSTCText – Accessed 26 February 2008 – Attachment 6) .

On the day of the election, an article in made the observation that the election campaign had been “bloody”:

Even by Pakistan’s wretched standards, the election campaign has been bloody. Since the murder of Benazir Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), on December 27th over 450 people have been killed in political and insurgent violence. On Saturday at least 46 died in a suicide-bomb attack on a PPP rally in north-western Pakistan. This was the third such attack against an opposition gathering in eight days. On Sunday, hours before the polls opened, a candidate of ’s Pakistan (Nawaz) party-or PML(N)- was shot dead in (‘Ballots and bombs in Pakistan’ 2008, The Economist, 18 February – Attachment 7).

An article dated 20 February 2008 in the Pakistan Times cites brief comment on the treatment of party members – including the “martyring”, kidnapping and otherwise injuring of party workers – in the run-up to the elections which were held on 18 February 2008 and from which the PPP emerged with the greatest number of seats. According to the article:

Co-Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarian (PPPP) Asif Ali Zardai said Tuesday contacts were under way with all parties, primarily with PML-N, on formation of a . Aressing [sic] a news conference at the Zardari House in , he said that Pakistan People’s Party would join hands with democratic forces. He said dialogue with all parties would be in the interest of strengthening democracy in the country. The PPP co-chairman alleged there had been selective rigging in Monday’s parliamentary polls. He said 27 workers of PPP were “martyred” and an equal number were kidnapped while 300 were injured by rivals (‘Zadari says talks on with parties for Coalition Govt’ 2008, Pakistan Times, 20 February http://www.pakistantimes.net/2008/02/20/top2.htm – Accessed 26 February 2008 – Attachment 8).

An article dated 21 February 2008 in The Economist makes the following observations about the election results, including results in the North West Frontier Province:

As predicted, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), whose leader, Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister, was assassinated on December 27th while campaigning for the poll, emerged as the biggest party, with 88 seats. With another 25 indirectly elected seats – out of a total of 44 reserved for women and members of religious minorities – it will lead the bargaining to form a coalition government. In concurrent voting for Pakistan’s four provincial assemblies, it also won a majority in Sindh. …

In NWFP, the MMA has been supplanted by the (ANP) which appeals to the nationalist sentiments of the province’s ethnic-Pushtun inhabitants. It was the only party to launch a serious election campaign in the violent region. It suffered two suicide-bomb attacks on its rallies, killing 38 people, and won ten parliamentary seats. Happily, there were no terrorist attacks on election day – though around 20 people died in political violence (‘Out with the president’s men’ 2008, The Economist, 21 February http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10727840 – Accessed 26 February 2008 – Attachment 9).

An article dated 22 February 2008 on the Pakistan Elections website reports that the PPP had entered into an agreement with the – Nawaz (PML-N) to form a coalition government:

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) brokered an agreement on Thursday to form governments at the Centre and the provincial levels and to sort out the modalities for the reinstatement of judiciary in parliament.

“We have decided to work together and move together for the future of the democracy in the country and to strengthen parliament,” said Co-Chairman PPP Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif while addressing a joint press conference here on Thursday evening at the Zardari House after holding two-hour-long talks. …

The breakthrough reached by the two major political forces of the country, who jointly share 70 per cent mandate of the people of Pakistan gained through the elections, was also important in the sense that Asif Ali Zardari showed flexibility, demonstrating his willingness to join hands with the PML-N for the reinstatement of the deposed judges. …

“Despites all odds, both parties secured the majority of votes through the verdict of the people. We respect the mandate of the people and do not see any problem in the formation of the government at the Centre and the provinces,” said Nawaz Sharif, adding that the assemblies would complete their tenure.

He said both the parties would work together to form the governments and implement the in letter and spirit. “We accept the mandate of the PPP with an open heart and wish that the PPP completes its five-year term. We will wage a joint struggle for the restoration of judiciary and the Charter of Democracy will also be followed,” Nawaz maintained (‘PPP, PML-N agree to form coalition govt’ 2008, Pakistan Elections website, 22 February http://www.elections.com.pk/newsdetails.php?id=501 – Accessed 26 February 2008 – Attachment 10).

A BBC News article dated 23 February makes the observation that the proposed coalition could prove “hugely positive”, notwithstanding possible efforts to undermine it. According to the article:

The decision by Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif to work towards a coalition government could prove a major step forward in lifting Pakistan out of its political morass and putting it back on the rails.

The new alliance is between the Pakistan People’s Party – the left-of-centre group that won the largest number of parliamentary seats in the 18 February elections and is now led by the widower of assassinated Benazir Bhutto – and the Pakistan Muslim League-N group, led by Mr Sharif which came in a close second.

However, the proposed coalition government could have to face continuing behind the scenes efforts by President Pervez Musharraf and the intelligence agencies to undermine them even before they are allowed to govern.

Mr Musharraf's agents, backed by a section of the Washington establishment, is reported to have been secretly trying to persuade Mr Zardari to go into alliance with the former ruling party – the Pakistan Muslim League-Q group.

'Hugely positive'

The PML-Q has been decimated in the elections - 23 ministers lost their seats and today it is leaderless, visionless and without an agenda - except to continue supporting Mr Musharraf.

The proposed new coalition could prove hugely positive for Pakistan’s four provinces.

In the North Western Frontier Province that has been torn apart by civil war, the majority of seats have been won by a PPP ally, the Awami National Party (ANP) (‘Pakistan coalition promises benefits’ 2008, BBC News, 23 February http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7259262.stm – Accessed 26 February 2008 – Attachment 11).

2. How easily can a person obtain a membership card for the PPPP?

A response by the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada includes information provided by the Secretary General of the PPP in Islamabad in June 1999, indicating few impediments to a person joining the party and obtaining a membership card. According to the advice provided:

The PPP Card is signed by the district president after verifying the bonafide of the member. The concerned person has to be a voter of his ward. The membership card is valid till the next election… If a man wants to join PPP he is allowed to as he has to buy his membership for a small sum of Rs.2. A PPP member can be thrown out if he is working against the party interest. PPP does not maintain a nationwide membership list but we have started this exercise in the province of Sindh (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 1999, PAK32203.E – Pakistan: Follow-up to PAK31993.E of 28 May 1999 on membership cards and whether they are renewed, 18 June – Attachment 14).

Information cited in October 2002 by the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada indicates that the PPP did not, at that time, maintain membership lists:

Ms. Jahangir [a founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan] was asked why it is so difficult to verify party membership in either the PML or the PPP. In response, she stated that the PML, the PPP and one or two other large political parties do not maintain membership lists. The representative of the party in the individual's city might be in a position to verify the individual’s membership in the party. Some regional parties, on the other hand, will maintain membership lists (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2002, PAK40294.E – Pakistan: Remarks by Asma Jahangir, 6 September 2002, 25 October – Attachment 15).

A report published in Pakistan in October 2004 states that political parties in Pakistan “simply don’t keep any kind of data base of their members” and that research on the ground indicated that prospective members of political parties were not even asked about their political orientation. According to the report:

One member of our research team visited the offices of three political parties and was able to get the membership of all the three major political parties without any problem. Nobody asked him any questions about his interest or political orientation. After months none of these parties have invited him to be part of any activity of these parties or to attend any training or orientation workshop by the party to become an active worker.

The parties simply don’t keep any kind of data base of their members. With the exception of Jamaat-i-Islami not a single party has a proper library geared to the political education of their workers/members nor do they conduct study circles or training programmes to educate their workers on the dynamics of politics, their party position on different issues… At best the secretariats of political parties serve as an office for the party leaders or a place to address a press conference. Very little professional and paid staff is employed at these secretariats. Most of the workers are volunteers. All this keeps the parties organizationally inefficient and structurally weak (Khan, Z. 2004, ‘Political parties in Pakistan: Disabled by Design’, Centre for Civic Education Pakistan website, October http://www.civiceducation.org/reports/Disabled%20by%20design.pdf – Accessed 25 February 2008 – Attachment 16). An article from June 2006 reports that the PPP was embarking on a membership campaign with the expectation that the PPP would “emerge victorious in the 2007 general elections”. According to that article:

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) membership campaign is proceeding with “great fervour” despite differences between some local leaders and the central leadership over the membership fee, PPP Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sajjad Bukhari told on Monday.

“Certain leaders at the union council-level are opposing the membership fee to garner support from poor PPP activists,” said Bukhari. The party had received no complaints from the workers themselves, and the local leaders were unnecessarily aggravating the situation, he said. Feedback showed that nearly all PPP activists were satisfied with the membership fee of Rs 40, he added. PPP workers were enthusiastically taking part in the membership drive, and the leaders’ complaints were disrupting the activists, said the PPP CEC. “The leaders should sort out their differences because their actions were discouraging the workers,” he added.

“The membership campaign is in full swing and I have visited several areas to oversee the registration process,” said Bukhari. The PPP would emerge victorious in the 2007 general elections, he added. The PPP CEC said the party had set up an Election Commission to assist in the party elections, which would take place after the membership campaign. All four provinces have been represented in the commission, he said (Bangash, F. 2006, ‘PPP membership drive in full swing despite differences: Bukhari’, Daily Times, 13 June http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\06\13\story_13-6-2006_pg7_43 – Accessed 26 February 2008 – Attachment 17).

List of Sources Consulted

Internet Sources: Government Information & Reports UK Home Office http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ US Department of State http://www.state.gov/ Non-Government Organisations Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/ Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org International News & Politics BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk Region Specific Links Asian Centre for Human Rights website http://www.achrweb.org/ Pakistan Times http://www.pakistantimes.net The Daily Times website http://www.dailytimes.com.pk The Nation http://www.nation.com.pk Topic Specific Links Pakistan Elections website http://www.elections.com.pk Pakistan People’s Party website http://www.ppp.org.pk Search Engines Copernic http://www.copernic.com/

Databases: FACTIVA (news database) BACIS (DIAC Country Information database) REFINFO (IRBDC (Canada) Country Information database) ISYS (RRT Research database) MRT-RRT Library catalogue

List of Attachments

1. Szajkowski, B. (ed) 2005, Political Parties of the World, John Harper Publishing, London, pp.459-60. (MRT-RRT Library)

2. Banks, A.S., Muller, T.C. & Overstreet, W.R. (eds) 2007, Political Handbook of the World: 2007, CQ Press, Washington, pp.939-40. (MRT-RRT Library)

3. ‘Asif Zardari condemns victimization of Party workers’ 2008, Pakistan People’s Party website, 27 January http://www.ppp.org.pk/news_event/jan/28-1-2008.html – Accessed 26 February 2008.

4. ‘PPP Warns Against Continued Spate of Violence Against The Party’ 2008, Pakistan People’s Party website, 14 February http://www.ppp.org.pk/news_event/feb/15-2- 2008.html – Accessed 26 February 2008.

5. ‘Election Commission Not Impartial’ 2008, Human Rights Watch, 12 February. (CISNET CX193265).

6. ‘Car bomb kills 40 ahead of Pakistan vote’ 2008, CNN, 17 February http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/16/pakistan/index.html#cnnSTCText – Accessed 26 February 2008.

7. ‘Ballots and bombs in Pakistan’ 2008, The Economist, 18 February. (CISNET CX193888)

8. ‘Zadari says talks on with parties for Coalition Govt’ 2008, Pakistan Times, 20 February http://www.pakistantimes.net/2008/02/20/top2.htm – Accessed 26 February 2008.

9. ‘Out with the president’s men’ 2008, The Economist, 21 February http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10727840 – Accessed 26 February 2008.

10. ‘PPP, PML-N agree to form coalition govt’ 2008, Pakistan Elections website, 22 February http://www.elections.com.pk/newsdetails.php?id=501 – Accessed 26 February 2008.

11. ‘Pakistan coalition promises benefits’ 2008, BBC News, 23 February http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7259262.stm – Accessed 26 February 2008.

12. Deleted.

13. Deleted.

14. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 1999, PAK32203.E – Pakistan: Follow-up to PAK31993.E of 28 May 1999 on membership cards and whether they are renewed, 18 June. (REFINFO)

15. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2002, PAK40294.E – Pakistan: Remarks by Asma Jahangir, 6 September 2002, 25 October. (REFINFO)

16. Khan, Z. 2004, ‘Political parties in Pakistan: Disabled by Design’, Centre for Civic Education Pakistan website, October http://www.civiceducation.org/reports/Disabled%20by%20design.pdf – Accessed 25 February 2008.

17. Bangash, F. 2006, ‘PPP membership drive in full swing despite differences: Bukhari’, Daily Times, 13 June http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\06\13\story_13-6-2006_pg7_43 – Accessed 26 February 2008.