An alliance of Pakistani opposition parties, All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), which is boycotting nationwide Feb. 18 elections, told Pakistanis not to vote because it was nothing but a "fraud."
"People should boycott the election which is nothing but a fraud with the nation," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, chief of the APDM, at a public rally in Karachi.
The APDM includes the fringe party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.
"No transparent election could be held until the reinstatement of the sacked judges and an independent election commission put in place," Ahmed said.
President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Nov. 3 and sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and nearly 40 other top judges.
The crowd chanted slogans against Musharraf. "Remove Musharraf, bring true democracy," was one of many banners held by the participants of the rally.
A senior police official, Athar Rashid Butt, said about 2,000 people turned up to attend the APDM rally.
Ahmed said the Constitution had been severely distorted by Musharraf and the army.
"Particularly the provisions of the Constitution ensuring supremacy of the parliament and right of people to rule have virtually been clipped," he said.
"Our movement for an independent judiciary will continue till reinstatement of the sacked judges and removal of the hand-picked judges," another APDM leader, Mehmood Achakzai, said.
They also endorsed a resolution demanding an end to military operations against insurgents in the troubled northwest of the country.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constructing a new counter-stealth radar system on a disputed reef in the South China Sea that would significantly expand its surveillance capabilities in the region, satellite imagery suggests. Analysis by London-based think tank Chatham House suggests China is upgrading its outpost on Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) on the southwest corner of the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), building what might be a launching point for an anti-ship missile battery and sophisticated radar system. “By constraining the US ability to operate stealth aircraft, and threaten stealth aircraft, these capabilities in the South China Sea send
HAVANA: Repeated blackouts have left residents of the Cuban capital concerned about food, water supply and the nation’s future, but so far, there have been few protests Maria Elena Cardenas, 76, lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana’s colonial old town. The building has an elegant past, but for the last few days Maria has been cooking with sticks she had found on the street. “You know, we Cubans manage the best we can,” she said. She lives in the shelter because her home collapsed, a regular occurrence in the poorest, oldest parts of the beautiful city. Cuba’s government has spent the last days attempting to get the island’s national grid functioning after repeated island-wide blackouts. Without power, sleep becomes difficult in the heat, food
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