ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto has said that opposition parties should forcefully put their demands before the government but, at the same time, prepare for the Jan 8 election and for launching an agitation soon after the polls in the event of ‘massive’ rigging.

She made the observations while talking to Dawn on Thursday after members of the joint committee of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and the All Parties Democratic Movement conceded that they had failed to prepare a document containing the demands for ensuring free and fair elections.

Referring to the complexity of the situation arising out of the differences within the eight-member committee, Ms Bhutto cautioned against what she called a Bangladesh-like situation where elections were postponed after opposition parties had raised objections on the constitution of the caretaker set-up. She said her party and the ARD did not want to provide an excuse to the government to postpone the polls.

On the issue of judiciary, she said that the matter of sacked judges should be left to the next parliament.

One thing was quite clear from Ms Bhutto’s comments that she was opposed to the idea of a boycott in the absence of a strategy to launch a decisive movement to oust President Pervez Musharraf.

The former prime minister said she wanted the opposition parties to focus on the election to force the government to either hold free and fair elections or commit rigging. “In either case, it will be the government’s defeat. It will be the PML(Q)’s defeat,” she said.

The PPP chairperson said she believed that the most appropriate time for launching an agitation would be soon after the polls. The issue before them, she said, was whether they should launch the movement (against the government) now or on January 9, a day after polling. The movement could not be run merely by issuing press statements. “There should be a comprehensive plan as to what will be the structure (of opposition alliance) and who will be the office-bearers. What will be the agenda and goals (of the movement),” she said.

This way, the PPP leader said, the opposition would get sufficient time to launch an organised movement and it would be easy to mobilise the masses soon after the election.

It appeared that Ms Bhutto is also not willing to break her re-established relationship with Nawaz Sharif and the APDM because in response to a question she said that she was still ready to be convinced by the other side on the issue of poll boycott. She said that like her, Mr Sharif and workers of his party had also been struggling for restoration of democracy in Pakistan. “Several PML(N) workers were put behind bars. Javed Hashmi remained in jail for many years. Like me, Nawaz Sharif remained in exile. Our goals are same. Our objectives are same,” she said, adding that she believed that both of them had the ability to convince each other on any issue.

When asked why had she announced to set a timeframe for the government for acceptance of their demands when she was unwilling to boycott the polls, Ms Bhutto said she had not stated that the deadline should be set before the polls.

In response to the APDM’s demand that the pre-emergency judiciary should be restored, she said that her party had been struggling for the restoration of the Constitution and the independence of judiciary since much before Nov 3. She said if they talked about pre-Nov 3 situation then they should remember that at that time an army chief was the president of the country.

She said the country had a very ‘ugly past’ as far as the judges’ issue was concerned. “Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqi was removed on the same ground. Gen Zia sacked a number of judges in 1981. Again judges were removed in 1997,” she said, adding that her party believed that this trend could be stopped and the country could have an independent judiciary only if there was complete democracy.