Pak govt plans to ban political rallies

Pakistan government today rejected former premier Benazir Bhutto's demand to rope in international experts to probe the suicide attack on her motorcade and said it planned to ban rallies and processions before the general election.

Bhutto, however, reiterated that an independent probe comprising foreign experts alone could uncover the conspiracy behind the failed assassination bid on her.

She also expressed dissatisfaction with the security cover provided to her by the government, saying she had not been provided everything she had sought.

The government's move to ban rallies provoked an angry reaction from Opposition parties, which said they would defy it.

Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said rallies were an "essential part" of any election campaign, while the PML(N) termed the move as a "plan" to ensure that the general election favoured President Pervez Musharraf.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao dismissed Bhutto's call to involve foreign agencies in the probe into the two blasts in Karachi that killed nearly 140 people on Friday, saying Pakistani authorities had "excellent and experienced investigators" who could handle the matter.

"I categorically reject (Bhutto's demand). We are conducting the investigation in a very objective manner. We have also asked the provincial government (in Sindh) to do that. We have good expertise as far as investigation is concerned," he said, adding Pakistani experts had probed assassination attempts on the president, prime minister and himself.

Sherpao said the government had framed a code of conduct, which included a ban on rallies and processions, to create "a conducive atmosphere to conduct the election".

"We do not want to postpone the election and we do not want any sort of an excuse for that. For that, we have made a code of conduct, a draft proposal. We will discuss this with the government and the political parties and if they agree, we will go ahead (with it)," he said.

"There will be no ban on public meetings but these will have to be held by parties only at specified places. No party or leader would be allowed to organise processions or rallies before a public meeting," Sherpao said.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi , Bhutto repeated her demand for foreign experts to be included in the probe into the Karachi blasts. She said she had "got some of the things that I want for my security but not all of what I want".