KARACHI, Dec 10: The PML-N has said that 2005 would be the year of elections not only for local bodies but also for national and provincial assemblies, and has directed the party cadre to make preparations for contesting the polls.

General Secretary of the party's Sindh chapter Mamnoon Hussain said on Thursday that the country was in the grip of a severe crisis due to increasing unemployment, rising prices of essential commodities, lawlessness, and other such problems which were going to aggravate in the coming days.

He said the situation would take an ugly turn and this would leave no option open for the rulers but to hand over reins of powers to legitimate leadership after allowing the exiled leaders Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto to return home.

He referred to the unrest in the three smaller provinces where water issue, law and order and the ongoing Wana operation, coupled with the government's failure in evolving a consensus on the NFC Award, had created mistrust of the federation.

WORKERS' MEETING: Addressing a meeting of the PML-N workers in Mahmoodabad, the party's central working committee member, Sardar Rahim, pointed out that the International Human Rights Day coincided with the forcible exile of Mian Nawaz Sharif, Mian Shahbaz Sharif and their family members who were made to leave the country on Dec 10 four years back.