Major opposition parties reject election schedule

Major anti-Musharraf political parties on Tuesday rejected the announcement of the schedule for parliamentary polls, saying that free and fair elections were not possible under emergency rule.
Outfits hostile to President Musharraf, however, did not sound conviction whether they could boycott polls, collectively or separately, in a bid to make them less credible. Election authorities earlier in the day said they had fix January 8, 2008, as date for polling.
Parties of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif noted in unison that elections could not be free and fair under President Pervez Musharraf. PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said his party had been demanding free and fair elections, "but it seems impossible now". He said that PPP was considering all options, including boycotting the parliamentary polls.
"We are considering all options, including boycott. Our party's central executive committee is in session, which will take final decision in this regard," he added. PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal observed that the forthcoming elections would repeat the "feat of fraudulent presidential referendum".
"How general elections can be held free, fair and transparent when thousands of opposition activists are locked up; judges are placed under house arrest; and television channels are off air?" he questioned. He said that all the opposition parties should adopt a joint strategy, as isolated boycotts would not be affective against the present regime.
ANP's Afrasiab Khan Khattak said he felt the elections could not be held under the current circumstances. "We feel neither the environment is conducive for elections nor the given timeframe for campaigning is acceptable to us," he added.
When asked about boycotting the polls, he said his party was keeping the option open. "Both options are open: either we boycott the elections or take part, but the final decision would be taken unanimously by all opposition parties," he said.
MMA deputy secretary general Abdul Ghafoor Haideri ridiculed the schedule unveiled by the Election Commission. He said the caretaker setup, to oversee the forthcoming polls, was continuation of Pakistan Muslim League that minimised the possibility of free, fair and transparent elections.
The election schedule, he said, indicated that President Pervez Musharraf wanted to get his desired results. "We are undecided on boycotting the polls, because if we boycott then the field would be open for President Musharraf, which I believe is not a wise decision," he said in reply to a question. The opposition parties had also boycotted the meeting convened by the Election Commission on Monday to finalise the code of conduct for electioneering.