KARACHI, Dec 2: The senior vice-president of the Pakistan People’s Party, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, on Sunday sought an assurance from the government regarding the holding of free and fair elections so that the party could take part in the polls with full force.

The PPP leader was speaking at a press conference held at the People’s Secretariat here.

“We have no confidence in the present election commission and we have been pointing out our objections from time to time. The election commission is not impartial and it should be reconstituted and freed from the influence of the government,” Mr Fahim said.

He said that the present interim set-up was the continuation of the previous governments and the cabinet members of the caretaker government were following the policies of their predecessors. “In such a situation, we cannot expect fair, free and impartial elections,” he said.

Mr Fahim said that despite all that the PPP would not leave the field empty by boycotting the elections. He said that the PPP could decide for seat adjustments at some constituencies with the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) or the PML-N if it deemed it necessary and similarly it would not hesitate in making similar arrangements with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement at some places.

Replying to a query, the PPP leader said that his party would decide later at an appropriate time whether to accept the results of the Jan 8 elections or not.

He urged the government to make all-out efforts to remove all suspicions among the opposition parties about the coming elections.

Mr Fahim said that the election commission had lost its credibility among the people of Pakistan thus it should not proceed further and give way to neutral individuals to take command and supervise impartial elections.

He said that the PPP had in principle decided not to accept re-entry of those who had left the party. He warned that the government should realise that it could face intense public reaction if the next elections were allowed to be rigged.

Mr Fahim said he thought Imran Khan would not take part in the elections, but rest of the components of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) would participate in the polls.

He alleged that some senior officials of the election commission were openly roaming around along with the former Sindh chief minister, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, which gave little assurance about the elections being held in a transparent manner.

Asked whether he wanted to hold the elections under the army supervision, Mr Fahim said that he did not think so because the PPP believed in democracy and only wanted the election to be held in an impartial manner. However, he said, the army could take charge if the situation went out of control.

Mr Fahim also announced three subcommittees of the party, which would deal with the media, monitor elections and point out rigging during elections. Sherry Rehman, Taj Haider and Prof N.D. Khan would head the three committees respectively.

PPP Sindh president Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Aftab Shahban Mirani and Prof N.D. Khan were also present.