LAHORE, Dec 1: Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said on Saturday that his party was willing to discuss reservations about the electoral process with the Pakistan People’s Party and the All Parties Democratic Movement and meet the caretaker prime minister along with them to have them removed.
He, however, said that the demand for the reinstatement of the judges of superior judiciary was neither an issue for the common man nor did it have any relation with the elections.
Talking to Dawn at his residence, he said PPP and APDM’s apprehensions about rigging could be discussed, but no party should try to raise “irrelevant issues”.
The PML president said since all major parties were going to contest the elections, boycott by some others would not affect the credibility of the process. He said his party was already in contact with other parties to persuade them not to stay out of the poll process because it would be a big mistake.
He said although he was not expecting a positive response, he would hope that they would review their boycott decision.
He said if the PML-N leadership were to boycott the polls, it was better for them not to return to Pakistan because they could have polled more votes sitting abroad than they could expect now.
Mr Hussain said the Sharifs did not know how drastically the voter’s mind had changed over the past few years. People would no longer support the parties that were thinking of boycotting the polls, he said.
According to him, the Sharifs had returned to Pakistan after giving an assurance that they would participate in the electoral process.
