Bhutto Outlines Election Platform

(29 Nov 07 - RV ) Opposition leaders are appeared divided on whether to contest parliamentary elections under President Pervez Musharraf, a day after he bowed to international pressure by saying he would end emergency rule ahead of the ballot. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto launched her party's manifesto for January's elections, focusing on domestic issue, but said her Pakistan People's Party was taking part in the polls under protest and could still boycott them. Meanwhile aides to Nawaz Sharif, said they will boycott the vote unless President Musharraf reinstates the Supreme Court chief justice and other judges he sacked after declaring the emergency on November 3rd. Prof. Nick Pratt of the Germany-based George C Marshall institute for security studies spent many years in Pakistan says there are pros and cons to participating in the election for the opposition.