ISLAMABAD, Nov 11: President Gen Pervez Musharraf announced dates for dissolution of the national and provincial assemblies on Sunday, ignoring pleas by all but three ministers of the 71-member federal cabinet to extend the tenure of the assemblies to give them more time to prepare for elections.

An overwhelming majority of ministers and legislators belonging to the ruling coalition had pleaded with him to extend the tenure of assemblies for “a few months if not by a year,” informed sources told Dawn.

Only three members of the federal cabinet — Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Minister for Textile Mushtaq Ali Cheema — opposed the proposal to extend the life of the assemblies.

The sources said that President Musharraf faced a rather unpleasant situation when 68 of the 71 ministers requested him to extend the assemblies’ term.

The sources said that although the president accepted the advice to continue emergency and the PCO, he turned down the request for extending the tenure of assemblies. He said that armed forces had a big task ahead to deal with terrorists and extremists in parts of the NWFP.

When asked if the coalition government leaders discussed the anti-Musharraf campaign launched by PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, Minister for Population Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain told Dawn that the meeting had decided to leave such issues to the Election Commission which had already issued a code of conduct for the election campaign and any party would violate it at its own risk.

The sources said that President Gen Musharraf had not been in a position to confront Ms Bhutto head-on, knowing that she had a rapport with the West, as against Nawaz Sharif who was suspected of having a soft corner for extremists and terrorists.

According to the sources, Gen Musharraf told the coalition leaders to win elections if they wanted to retain power, without giving them any assurance of help in the polls.

“Being my supporters, I certainly wish you to win the election but one thing must be clear that elections will be fair, free and transparent as these will be observed by national and international observers,” the sources quoted the president as saying.

Before addressing the press conference, the president had brief discussions with leaders of the PML, MQM, PPP Sherpao and PML (Functional). He also took the four provincial chief ministers and governors into confidence over the steps he was to announce at the press conference.

The sources quoted the president as saying that he had been left with no option but to announce a date for the dissolution of assemblies and elections.