Benazir Sacked, Elections Set For Feb 3

Leghari appointed former parliament speaker and current rector of International Islamic University, 80-year-old Malik Meraj Khalid, as the caretaker Prime Minister to supervise the general elections.

I am satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the government of the federation cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, and an appeal to the electorate is necessary, a presidential proclamation said, accusing the Bhutto government of corruption and failing to maintain law and order.

Bhuttos husband Asif Ali Zardari has been arrested along with the governor of the Punjab province Raja Saroop Khan in whose official residence in Lahore he was staying. No reasons have been given for the arrest of the two.

 

Speculations are rife that a tribunal may be set up to try Bhutto and some of her cabinet colleagues on charges of corruption and that during the pendancy of the trial they might not be allowed to contest the polls.

The 43-year-old Bhutto, the countrys first woman Prime Minister, is reported to be holed up in her official residence here, and her official spokesman Farhatullah Babar said she was not receiving any phone calls.

Troops took over control of the Pakistan Television Corporation, Radio Pakistan and Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation, Cabinet Block and the Prime Ministers Secretariat.

This is the second time that Bhuttos government has been sacked in the last six years following rift with the presidency. In August 1990 her government was sacked by the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan after ethnic clashes in Sindh.

Legharis proclamation said in a long list of allegations against the Bhutto government that during its three-year rule, thousands of people had been killed in the port city of Karachi and elsewhere in Pakistan.

The President alleged that many had been killed in so-called encounters with police and in police custody, and criticised Bhuttos claim of a conspiracy behind the killing of her estranged brother and political rival Mir Murtaza Bhutto in an encounter with police on September 20.

The President recalled that in October last year he had warned that law enforcement agencies must ensure that there is no harassment of innocent citizens in the fight against terrorism and human and legal rights of all persons were protected, and alleged this advice had not been heeded.