Source: Bloomberg

By Khalid Qayum and Paul Tighe

Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) — Pakistani opposition leader Nawaz Sharif meets Benazir Bhutto today to try to persuade her to join a boycott of general elections in January to protest President Pervez Musharraf’s state of emergency restrictions.

“The purpose of the meeting is to discuss whether to take part in elections or not,” Bhutto’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a phone interview from Islamabad today. “Our view is that we don’t want to leave the field open because if Musharraf gets a majority, he will legalize all his illegal acts. If we get a majority, we can undo these actions.”

Sharif, who leads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, will travel from his home in Lahore to meet with Bhutto in Islamabad at about 7 p.m. local time today, said Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for Sharif. It will be the first meeting between the two former prime ministers since they returned from exile to prepare for the Jan. 8 elections.

Musharraf said last week he will lift emergency rule on Dec. 16 and called on all parties to take part in the ballot. Bhutto, who leads the Pakistan Peoples Party, the main opposition group, said yesterday elections are needed to restore full democracy in Pakistan, according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan.

“Both leaders have said the elections will be rigged,” said Iqbal. “There is no judiciary, there are curbs on media and the environment is completely in favor of the Musharraf- backed Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam party.”

Right to Withdraw

Hundreds of Sharif’s supporters headed to Islamabad International Airport to welcome the former premier on his first visit to the capital since he returned to the country last month. A caravan of cars decorated with Sharif’s party flags and welcome banners made its way to the airport.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who is on a two-day visit to Islamabad, will meet Sharif and Bhutto later in the day, he told a joint news conference with Musharraf today.

Bhutto said last week her party reserves the right to withdraw from the ballot.

“We decided to take part to force the elections to be credible or, if it’s rigged, to demonstrate that it has been rigged,” Bhutto said when she opened her election campaign in Rawalpindi Nov. 30. “Right now, it doesn’t seem like elections will be fair.”

Evidence of Rigging

Bhutto, 54, has said she has evidence the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam plans to rig voting.

“If Bhutto refuses to boycott the elections, then we will review our decision,” Iqbal said in a telephone interview. “A boycott can only be effective if all opposition parties decide to stay away from polling. In that way, there will be no credibility of elections. A partial boycott will be counter- productive and it will benefit Musharraf.”

The opposition parties should confront Musharraf to get the schedule agreed “according to their terms,” he said.

Musharraf, 64, suspended the constitution on Nov. 3 and fired judges as the Supreme Court was about to rule on his eligibility for a second presidential term. A new panel of Supreme Court judges, all appointed by the president, rejected the legal challenges to his re-election on Nov. 22.

The return of Bhutto and Sharif, 57, is “good for political reconciliation,” Musharraf said in a televised speech last week after stepping down as army chief and taking the presidential oath as a civilian Nov. 29.

Military Coup

Sharif was prime minister from 1990 to 1993 and from 1997 to 1999, when Musharraf ousted him in a military coup. He was convicted of corruption and treason and sentenced to 14 years in prison after the coup. Musharraf pardoned him in a 2000 accord under which Sharif agreed to live in exile in Saudi Arabia for 10 years. Sharif said he agreed to five years in exile.

He was arrested and sent back to Saudi Arabia when he flew to Islamabad in September. Sharif was allowed to remain in Pakistan when he returned Nov. 25.

Bhutto, who returned from eight years in self-imposed exile in October, became the first woman prime minister of a Muslim state in 1988. She served as Pakistan’s prime minister twice between 1988 and 1996.

Bhutto was sentenced to five years in jail in 1999 on charges she amassed property and bank accounts while in power, and was then allowed to leave for exile in London.

To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad, Pakistan on kqayum@bloomberg.net ; Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net

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Tags: Benazir Bhutto, boycott, Elections, nawaz sharif