LAHORE, Sept 23: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has announced that it will continue opposing the election of Gen Pervez Musharraf as president despite all odds.

Condemning the arrest of PML-N leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and siege of party office in Islamabad while addressing a press conference here on Sunday, PML-N Lahore president Mian Marghoob Ahmed, Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman and Nasir Ahmed Bhutta said Gen Musharraf wanted to get himself elected as president in uniform through a foul play as he had done through a referendum in the past.

They said victimisation of opposition leaders and workers had exposed the real dictatorial character of the rulers who claimed to be democrats.

They said the party could not accord a befitting welcome to its leader Mian Nawaz Sharif on Sept 10 because the government did not allow its workers to go to Islamabad by blocking roads and arresting activists. As many as 36 FIRs were lodged in Lahore in which 553 people had been nominated. —Reporter