Opposition divided on polls

“We’re worried about the elections, we have our reservations, but we’re going in under protest,” Bhutto said in an interview. “We hope as we participate, we can try and improve the situation,” she said after meeting a US congressional delegation.

She later launched her party’s election manifesto, promising loans for small businesses and more money for education. But she also suggested her Pakistan Peoples Party could still join a boycott by a united opposition.

“We were thinking to contest the elections, but we are ready to change our mind to find a common goal, a common agenda,” she said.

Nawaz Sharif, who now heads a 33-member opposition grouping, said he would meet with Bhutto to explain the reasons for the proposed boycott.

He said in a telephone interview that Musharraf must reinstate the Supreme Court judges, who were fired after the emergency was proclaimed on November 3 to ensure the elections would not be rigged.

“We are saying ‘please, please for heaven’s sake restore the judiciary to the November 2 judiciary. Don’t force us to boycott the elections’,” Sharif said. “If there (are) free and fair elections we can win,” he said.

“But there is no point in Musharraf taking off his uniform or lifting emergency rule unless the judiciary is reinstated with dignity and honor. Nothing else is going to help the country,” he added.

On Thursday, Musharraf said he would lift emergency rule on December 16. An electoral boycott would represent a serious blow to Musharraf’s stated intention to restore democracy.

A US senator, who met with Bhutto at her house in Islamabad, said his congressional delegation was “encouraged” that Bhutto would not boycott the vote.

“We know how important it is that her party participate, we hope all parties participate, otherwise it will be very difficult to put together… a government that really serves the people,” said Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican.

Musharraf has urged opposition parties to participate in the elections and help strengthen democracy.