Pakistan opposition nears deal on vote demands

FE Team | Published: December 06, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

ISLAMABAD, Dec 5 (AFP): Pakistan's opposition parties may finalise later Wednesday a list of demands for President Pervez Musharraf to meet if he wants to stop them boycotting next month's elections, a party official said.
Opposition leaders Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif joined forces Monday and set their aides to work on a 'charter of Demands' for the government to satisfy before the country goes to the polls on January 8.
The demands are expected to include a commitment for Musharraf to honour his vow to lift a state of emergency by December 16 and for various steps to ensure that the vote is not rigged.
"The demands will be finalised today hopefully, or maybe tomorrow," Ishaq Dar, a close confidant of Sharif, told private Dawn television.
"I am quite hopeful that at the end of the day, we will find a way to agree to an amicable document," added Dar, a former finance minister.
Dar said the parties had agreed on two demands-independence of the judiciary and restoration of the constitution to its status before Musharraf toppled Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999.
Under the November 3 state of emergency, Musharraf purged the Supreme Court of most of its judges and suspended the constitution, which had already been substantially altered during his eight years in power.
"If after a given cut-off date demands are not met, then.... in that case the choice will be nothing but the boycott," Dar added.
Any boycott would remove all credibility for the elections, which are being touted by Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led 'war on terror', as an important step in the country's transition to democracy.
Musharraf gave up his position as army chief last week in an apparent concession to international and domestic pressure.
He was then sworn in for a second term as a civilian president following the rubberstamping of his victory in an October 6 presidential election by the new, pro-Musharraf Supreme Court.
In a sign that the government had no intention of meeting opposition demands on the judiciary, the attorney general said Wednesday that 37 judges who refused to approve emergency rule had been formally retired.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's government has formally retired 37 judges, including the former chief justice, who refused to approve President Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule, the attorney general said Wednesday.
The judges declined to take a fresh oath of allegiance after Musharraf imposed the state of emergency on November 3, citing as one major factor the judiciary's 'interference' in government.
Pakistan's opposition parties, including those led by ex-premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have called for the judges, led by outspoken chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, to be restored.