Local council elections begin in Pak.

BHALWAL (Pakistan), DEC.31. Pakistan's military Government today launched the country on a cautious return to democracy with the controversial partyless local council elections.

The voting began under tight military supervision in 18 remote areas, one sixth of the country's 106 administrative districts. Officials said the turnout was normal but voters appeared doubtful of the process.

``This is useless. These are trivialities,'' said Ms. Nargis, a housewife at a polling station in a village in Bhalwal district, about 160 km south of Islamabad. She said the election was meaningless without the participation of political parties, which were barred from fielding candidates. The parties are demanding general elections.

``These elections are utterly useless. We are not ready for experiments,'' Riaz Warriach, a farmer, told Reuters at the polling booth, where a large number of villagers waited to vote.

He said the local council poll, to be completed by mid-2001, was a futile attempt to exclude the parties of the former Prime Ministers, Mr. Nawaz Sharif and Ms.Benazir Bhutto, from the political process. ``Politics has revolved around the Muslim League (of Mr. Sharif) and the People's Party (of Ms. Bhutto),'' he added.

Government officials said the turnout was normal. Mr. Mian Nazir Ahmed, supervising a voting booth, said the polling was going on peacefully. ``Things are calm here but the polling is slow because of the rain and some people do not understand how to cast votes. Each person has to elect five different persons making it a lengthy process,'' he said.

Some officials said they feared many votes would be invalidated because of the complex voting procedure. Most parties want the military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to hold early general elections and leave the local council poll for a civilian Government.

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