Pakistan opposition divided over polls

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RAWALPINDI: Pakistan former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto addressing her supporters here Friday. Bhutto said that her party would participate in the general election scheduled in January 2008. — AP Photo

ISLAMABAD, Nov 30 (AP): Pakistani opposition leaders were divided Friday on whether to contest parliamentary elections under President Pervez Musharraf, a day after he bowed to international pressure by saying he would end emergency rule ahead of the ballot.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said her opposition party would participate in the January 8 elections 'under protest'.
A close aide to Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister who heads a 33-member opposition alliance, said Friday his group will try to win Bhutto's support to boycott the vote unless Musharraf reinstates the Supreme Court chief justice and other judges he sacked after declaring the emergency on November 3.
"Nawaz Sharif will soon meet with Benazir Bhutto to persuade her that the entire opposition should boycott the elections, if Musharraf does not reinstate the judges," said Zafar Ali Shah, a senior leader of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party.
Musharraf had ruled Pakistan as a military dictator since 1999 when he overthrew Sharif in a coup, but he stepped down from his role as military commander Wednesday and has pledged to reinstate democracy, after coming under strong pressure to do so from President Bush.
On Thursday he said he would lift emergency rule on December 16.
An electoral boycott would represent a serious blow to Musharraf's stated intentions to restore democracy.
A US senator who met with Bhutto at her house in Islamabad said his congressional delegation was 'encouraged' that Bhutto would not boycott.
"We know how important is that her party participate, we hope all parties participate, otherwise it will be very difficult to put together ... a government that really serves the people," said Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican.
Sharif, reflecting widespread anger at Musharraf and political uncertainty that have undercut the president's domestic and international support, has continued to urge a boycott as a way to demolish the election's legitimacy.
He says Musharraf must reinstate the deposed chief justice and other judges, who were purged for not backing him.
Musharraf Thursday urged opposition parties to participate in the parliamentary ballot and help strengthen democracy, after he was sworn in for a new five-year term as president.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said London also looked forward to the lifting of the emergency and other restrictions - one major television channel and several radio stations remain blocked and several judges and leading lawyers are still in custody.
Musharraf, 64, imposed emergency rule in what he argued was a vital intervention to save Pakistan from political chaos and shore up its fight against rising Islamic militancy.
AFP from Washington adds: The United States (US) Thursday called President Pervez Musharraf's plan to lift emergency rule on December 16 an 'essential step' to steering Pakistan back toward democracy but said he must still take more.
US officials also denied Washington had forced the announcement from Musharraf, who had taken a defiant tone earlier Thursday before suddenly announcing he would lift the state of emergency imposed November 3.
The White House and the State Department greeted the news from a frontline ally in the war on terror, but insisted Musharraf follow through on it and ensure that general elections promised for January 8 are fair.