APDM to boycott elections, Pak govt given 4 days to lift emerg

Islamabad, Nov 25 (UNI) The All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) of Pakistan has announced that it would boycott the January 8 elections.

The action committee of the 17-party alliance gave a four-day ultimatum to the caretaker government yesterday to lift the state of emergency and withdraw the Provisional Constitution Order, restore the Constitution and the pre-PCO judiciary and release all political activists, lawyers and judges.

The poll boycott decision was also endorsed by PML (N) chief and former Prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

PML (N) chairman Raja Zafarul Haq declared that APDM parties who had filed their nomination papers and those who were yet to do so, would not contest the elections.

''The elections are being held to legitimise the unconstitutional actions taken by Gen Musharraf on and after November 3,'' Dawn quoted him as saying.

The PML (N) leader appealed to other political parties, including the PPP, to join hands in a movement against the government. He said the alliance would boycott the elections and launch a movement against the government if it failed to accept the APDM's demands in four days.

He said the country's institutions, including the armed forces, had been destroyed and Pakistan had been isolated after the Commonwealth had suspended its membership and 22 countries refused to trade with it.

He said the APDM endorsed the resolution of the Pakistan Bar Council calling for restoration of the judiciary in the pre-emergency shape.

UNI