LAHORE, July 24: Minister for parliamentary affairs Dr Sher Afgan Niazi says the situation is “not” conducive for the elections and President Pervez Musharraf should postpone them by proclaiming state of emergency in the country.

Talking to Dawn on Tuesday night, he said he did not think the elections would be held on schedule because of the situation.

The minister said some 20 million votes had not been registered, thousands of people had been displaced by floods in Balochistan and suicide bombers were targeting security forces in tribal areas. In these circumstances, he said, it would not be possible for the political parties to hold election rallies without putting the lives of the participants at risk.

Dr Afgan happens to be the first person to call for the postponement of the polls.

He said in the present situation all parties should help the flood-affected people and play their role in restoring law and order. Then, he said, they should also help the voters to get their votes registered with the Election Commission.

The minister said initially the emergency should be for six months, which could be extended for an equal duration in case the situation did not normalize.

Before the polls, he said, the opposition parties should give their proposals to the government to make the process transparent.

He alleged that the All Parties Democratic Movement was the rebirth of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad, a coalition which had launched a movement against the PPP government in 1977 that ended in the imposition of martial law.

He said in case the APDM launched a movement, as already threatened by them, the results would not be any different.

Meanwhile, MNA Mahmoud Khan Achakzai, whose party is part of the All Parties Democratic Movement, said the elections must be held on time.

He proposed that the ruling party should take steps to restore the Constitution to its 1999 shape in order to bridge the gulf between the treasury and the opposition parties.

He said since all opposition parties were committed to restoring the basic law to its pre-coup form, such an announcement by the ruling party would be praised by everyone.

He said most of the legislators sitting in the present parliament had annulled the Eighth constitutional amendment, which had taken away many powers of the president, they would not be satisfied unless all amendments made during the past eight years were scrapped.

Answering a question about the government’s plan to call an all-party conference, the APDM leader asked who would convene it. The president, he said, was a controversial figure and the rest of those in the government would have to quit before the general elections. In such a situation, he argued, nobody in the government was in a position to call such a conference.

He reiterated that the interim government to supervise the electoral process should be set up in consultation with the opposition parties and President Musharraf should not be a part of it as he was holding this post “unconstitutionally”. No opposition party would like to attend a conference hosted by Gen Musharraf, he said.