PAKISTAN: Two former Pakistani prime ministers submit their presidential nomination papers for January election

Former Pakistani prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif signed up on Monday (November 26) to run in the general election. Both Sharif and Bhutto said they might yet boycott the January 8 poll, which is being organised under emergency rule imposed by President Pervez Musharraf. Sharif, ousted by Musharraf eight years ago, flew home from exile in Saudi Arabia on Sunday (November 25) saying Musharraf had taken the country to the brink of disaster. A two-time prime minister, Sharif told a news conference in Lahore the boycott remained a very potent option for the opposition. Western governments fear Musharraf's emergency rule and moves to stifle democracy in Pakistan could give an advantage to Islamist militants threatening the nuclear-armed nation. Sharif said Pakistan needed to evolve a different kind of strategy which is supported by the people of Pakistan and that it was important not to turn the country into another Iraq. "We are against all forms of terrorism" he said. There have been more than 25 suicide attacks since Islamist militants intensified a campaign in July. The latest two killed 15 people in Rawalpindi on Saturday. Musharraf is under pressure at home and abroad to roll back the emergency rule which he used to purge the Supreme Court of judges he feared would annul his October 6 election by parliament. Unpopular, politically isolated and desperate for support from a new parliament, Musharraf now has to contend with two rivals he accused of corruption and spent much of the last eight years trying to marginalise. Nominations will be scrutinised by December 3 and a final candidate list will be published on December 16. Musharraf, having secured a second five-year term, thanks to a new panel of friendly judges who validated his October 6 election victory, will quit as army chief and take the oath as a civilian president on Thursday, his spokesman said.

ITN Source | November 27, 2007

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