Pak opposition boycotts EC meet

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ISLAMABAD, Nov. 19 (Agencies): Pakistan's opposition refused to attend a meeting called by the Election Commission today to discuss a code of conduct for parliamentary polls that the US says won't be fair under emergency rule.
``The entire opposition will boycott the meeting and this should be a message to the Election Commission,'' Fareed Piracha, a spokesman for the Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of religious parties, said in a phone interview.
``The Election Commission has to decide whether it wants to play its constitutional role or work as an agent of Musharraf.''
Meanwhile another report adds, Musharraf will Tuesday visit Saudi Arabia where he is expected to discuss with the Saudi government the possible return to Pakistan of former premier Nawaz Sharif.
No direct meeting between Musharraf and Sharif, who is currently living in exile in Jeddah, is planned, Dawn News channel quoted official sources as saying.
Musharraf will hold talks with King Abdullah bin Abd-al-Aziz Abdullah in Riyadh and Sharif's return to Pakistan might figure in their talks, the sources said.
Political circles in Pakistan have been abuzz with speculation for the past week about a visit to Saudi Arabia by Musharraf as part of efforts to establish contacts with Sharif to find a way out of the political crisis in the country.
Reports have suggested that the Saudi government has been pressuring Musharraf to allow Sharif to return ahead of the general election in January.
President Pervez Musharraf rebuffed pressure from Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to restore the constitution and free political prisoners, saying emergency rule is necessary to stop the nuclear-armed nation descending into chaos.
The army chief proposed holding elections on Jan. 8 amid a ban on rallies and the arrest of thousands of lawyers and political workers.