News
Saturday, April 27, 2013
ECP tells political leaders to play nice* Commission bars politicians from character assassination of each other
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: To cool down the political temperature during the ongoing general election campaign, the Election Commission of Pakistan on Friday barred the political leaders from character assignation of each other.
The ECP has issued a statement stating that it has taken serious note of the statements being made by some contesting candidates casting aspersions on the person of their opponents which is a violation of the code of conduct which clearly stipulates that: the political parties, contesting candidates and their supporters shall refrain from deliberate dissemination of false and malicious information and shall not indulge in forgeries and disinformation to defame other political parties/leaders. The use of abusive language against the leaders and candidates shall be avoided at all costs.
The code states that criticism of other political parties and opponent candidates shall be confined to their policies and programmes, past record and work. The parties and candidates shall refrain from criticism of any aspect of private life, not connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties. Criticism based on unverified allegations and distortion of facts shall be avoided. The ECP said it expects that henceforth such violations will not take place from any contesting candidate or political party, which might necessitate issuance of a directive under the law.
It is worth mentioning here that Farhatullah Babar, spokesman to the president, has approached the ECP and had requested it to stop the political leaders, especially the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders, from targeting the president in the election speeches. ECP’s new directive has not mentioned any political party or political personality and issued general directives barring all the political leaders and candidates from initiating personal attacks on each other.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk