Pakistan's 2002 Poll Rigged On President Musharraf's Orders

Pakistan President Musharraf is getting increasingly isolated after his party’s debacle in the recently concluded general elections. This is evident from the fact that even his close associates from the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) are abandoning him now, and that too, by accusing him of having ordered wrong doings in the past.

In a latest major development, the former chief of the ISI’s political wing at the time of the 2002 general elections, Major General Ehtsham Jaferri, has alleged that he had rigged the 2002 general elections in favour of the Q-League under directives from Musharraf, who was the army chief-cum-chief executive at that time.

Approached for comments, Jaferri conceded he was the main wheeler dealer of the 2002 elections. He said he had to rig the polls as General Musharraf wanted a comfortable majority in the parliament to smoothly rule the country for next five years. Commenting on the rout of the Q-League in the 2008 polls, Jaferri said it is actually a reaction of the unnatural dispensation installed in 2002.

Even after the 2002 elections, Jaferri said, the ISI was instrumental in pressing successful lawmakers to join the pro-Musharraf camp to form the government to support his stay in power. Seeking apology from the Pakistani nation, the son of a renowned Pakistani poet Syed Zameer Jaferri, admitted that his actions of 2002 had pushed the country back instead of taking it forward. “Yes, I feel ashamed of my role and seek apology from the people of Pakistan,” he said.

Asked as to who had directed him to rig the polls in 2002, he said, “Obviously, it was General Musharraf and being a subordinate officer, I had no other option but to comply.” (DNA)
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