ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: The PML-N on Wednesday took strong exception to a statement of Makhdoom Amin Fahim, president of PPP Parliamentarians and chairman of the ARD, that elections under a caretaker set-up of President General Pervez Musharraf were acceptable to them and that they had not decided to boycott them.

Talking to Dawn, PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said that the ARD had not yet taken any decision on whether to take part in or boycott elections under General Musharraf’s caretaker set-up, and Mr Fahim's statement, issued in New York, could be based on his personal views.

He said he believed that Mr Fahim had not made the statement in his capacity as ARD chairman.

The PML-N firmly believed that elections under General Musharraf could not be fair, free and open, he said, adding that the past record proved that his government knew no limits of squandering state resources, politicising state institutions and carrying out rigging for getting its turncoats elected.

However, Mr Iqbal said, the issue of taking part in elections under General Musharraf would be decided in consultation with the ARD and other opposition parties at the time of the announcement of election schedule.

“If the opposition decides to take part in elections under protest, as it had done in 2002, it will not mean that it trusts General Musharraf. In fact, it will be aimed at depriving him of winning two-thirds majority in the parliament for changing the constitution,” he added.

When contacted, a senior PPP office-bearer said that Mr Fahim had not stated anything new and there was no need for any person or party to raise objection to it.

Since no opposition party had so far hinted at boycotting the forthcoming elections, Mr Fahim had the right to say that they would take part in elections under a caretaker set-up.

However, Mr Iqbal said even if a caretaker government was constituted under General Musharraf, its role would be no different from that of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his cabinet.