All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed on Sunday urged Pakistanis to boycott the February 18 elections “as the vote is nothing but a fraud with the nation”. The APDM – an alliance of opposition parties – is boycotting the elections. “No transparent election could be held until the reinstatement of the sacked judges and an independent election commission [is] put in place,” AFP quoted Ahmed as telling a public rally in Karachi. The crowd shouted slogans against Musharraf. “Remove Musharraf, bring true democracy,” was one of many banners held by the participants of the rally. A senior police official, Athar Rashid Butt, said about 2,000 people turned up to attend the APDM rally. Ahmed said the constitution had been severely distorted by Musharraf and the army. Separately, speaking at a ‘Meet the press’ programme at Karachi Press Club, Ahmed rejected the idea of demanding a UN probe into the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, APP reported. “A team comprising former judges – Wajihuddin Ahmed, Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui and Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry – should be tasked with probing Benazir’s death,” he said, adding that investigations by “reliable Pakistanis will be much more helpful in knowing facts than a probe by foreigners”.