Current information on the treatment of Awami National Party (ANP) members by members of other political parties could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

The following information, however, may be of general interest.

In the February 1997 National Assembly elections the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) won 132 of 194 seats, and its ally, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP)-based ANP, won 8 seats (The Irish Times on the Web 5 Feb. 1997). A 20 June 1997 Reuters article refers to the ANP as a "junior partner in Sharif's ruling coalition."

The 29 April 1997 Dawn attachment discusses an ANP special committee formed to prepare a report on the effects of the Kalabagh dam on the NWFP.

For information on the ANP's standing following the 3 February 1997 provincial assembly elections, please consult the attachments to Response to Information Request PAK26467.E of 28 February 1997. Information on the ANP's standing following the 3 February 1997 national elections is provided in the attachment to Response to Information Request PAK26432.E of 28 February 1997. Both Responses are available at Regional Documentation Centres.

For general information on the ANP, please consult Response to Information Request PAK1711 of 6 September 1989, the June 1995 DIRB Question and Answer Series paper Pakistan: Chronology of Events January 1994–February 1995, and the DIRB's April 1994 Pakistan: Country Review, which are available at Regional Documentation Centres and on the SHARENet database.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

The Irish Times on the Web [Dublin]. 5 February 1997. Raja Asghar. "Bhutto Promises to Co-operate with Sharif." [Internet] [Accessed 8 July 1997]

Reuters. 20 June 1997. Raja Asghar. "Pakistan Under Fire over Kansi Snatch." [Internet] [Accessed 7 July 1997]

Attachment

Dawn: The Internet Edition [Karachi]. 29 April 1997. "ANP Forms Body on Kalabagh Dam." [Internet] [Accessed 8 July 1997]

Additional Sources Consulted

Amnesty International (AI). January 1995.

Pakistan: The Pattern Persists: Torture, Deaths in Custody, Extrajudicial Executions and "Disappearances" Under the PPP Government.

Amnesty International Report. Yearly. 1995, 1996.

Asia 1996 Yearbook: A Review of the Events of 1995. 1996.

Asian Survey [Berkeley, Calif.]. Monthly. January 1994-April 1997.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1996. 1997.
DIRB. June 1997.

Contextual Information Package: Pakistan.

_____. June 1997.

Human Rights Information Package: Pakistan.

_____. Indexed Media Review [Ottawa]. Weekly. January 1996-present.

The Europa World Year Book 1996. 1996.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). 1996.

State of Human Rights in 1996.

Human Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook. Yearly. 1994, 1995, 1996.

Human Rights Watch World Report. Yearly. 1996, 1997.
Office of Asylum Affairs (OAA), Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. June 1996.

Pakistan: Profile of Asylum Claims and Country Conditions.

Political handbook of the World 1997. 1997.

On-line/database searches: SHARENet, World Wide Web