January 19, 2008	Saturday	Muharram 09, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Jan 18: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) information secretary Ahsan Iqbal has said Pakistan cannot afford to have another controversial election and, therefore, it is necessary to form a government of national consensus before the polls to avert a disaster.

Talking to Dawn on Friday, the PML-N leader urged President Pervez Musharraf to realise the gravity of the present crisis situation and suggested that he should immediately resign from the office thus paving the way for the formation of a national government.

Mr Iqbal said it was the responsibility of the political parties to make the forthcoming general election non- controversial. He said every political party believed that polls under President Musharraf would be “highly controversial” and no one would accept the results, which would aggravate the already crisis situation.

When asked as to why the PML-N had started pressing for its demand for a national government particularly after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and at a time when election process had already been started, he said the party believed that when the government had itself postponed the elections for 40 days, then they should capitalise from this opportunity.

He said when elections were still one month away, the national government should be formed and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should be reconstituted to restore the confidence of the people in the election process.

Mr Iqbal reiterated the party’s demand that Justice (retired) Rana Bhagwandas be appointed as the chief election commissioner.

When asked about the name of the persons who could be inducted into the national government, he said, it could be any judge of the superior court who had not taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).

He said the time had come for Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf to resign and to allow the political parties to form a government of national consensus.

Mr Iqbal expressed his surprise as to why the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was not demanding the formation of a national government and willing to go into the elections under President Musharraf.

About the party’s future strategy if their demand for a national government was not accepted, he said they could not force a solution.

He said they could only identify the way out from the present crisis. According to Mr Iqbal, his party then would have no option but to take part in the elections.

He said the regime perhaps also wanted to form a national government, but only to delay the election for a longer period so that it could put the blame of the ongoing electricity, gas and flour crises on the shoulders of other political parties.

The PML-N leader denied that the government had made any contact with the party on the issue of the formation of a national government.