ISLAMABAD, 10 December 2007 — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party will take part in the January general election after failing to clinch a boycott pact with other opposition parties, his party spokesman said yesterday.
Sharif had hoped that fellow opposition leader Benazir Bhutto would join an alliance of parties seeking to isolate President Pervez Musharraf in protest at his declaration of emergency rule; but he now feels he has no choice but to participate.
“There was no consensus among the opposition parties about boycott of the election, so we have decided to take part in the election,” Ahsan Iqbal, spokesman for Sharif’s party, known as Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), said after a meeting of an opposition alliance.
Another senior leader of Sharif’s party Raja Zafarul Haq said, “The meeting could not evolve consensus on whether or not to take part in election.
“It was agreed that both ways can be adopted, but there are differences on the issue of boycott,” Haq told reporters after the meeting.
He said individual parties would have to decide whether to take part.
“We will convene the meeting of our Central Executive Committee soon and decide about taking part in elections,” Haq said.
The All Parties Democratic Movement alliance including the parties of Sharif, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and Islamist alliance Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal had earlier called for boycotting the elections.
The APDM, an alliance of some 35 parties, says that free and fair elections are not possible under the emergency rule imposed by President Pervez Musharraf on Nov. 3. But other opposition parties of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party and pro-Taleban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam favor taking part.
President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that emergency would be lifted on Dec. 15.
Talks between the APDM and Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party had earlier deadlocked over the drafting of a joint list of demands they want Musharraf to meet to ensure the January vote is not rigged, should they decide to take part.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Election Commission yesterday allocated election symbols to political parties for the polls, officials said.
Benazir’s party got the symbol of an arrow, Sharif’s party a Tiger, while the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League will contest the elections under the symbol of a bicycle. Former Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Tauqir Zia who filed his nomination papers from Lahore for a National Assembly seat joined Pakistan People’s Party yesterday.
In another development, the Foreign Ministry yesterday asked foreign diplomats stationed in Islamabad not to publicly comment on the domestic political situation.
It came after ambassadors of the United States and European Union member countries last week held a series of talks with Pakistani opposition leaders and gave on-spot television interviews after the meetings.
