Bhutto fears massive rigging in Pak polls

Expressing fear that the upcoming polls will be rigged by the Pakistan government, former premier Benazir Bhutto has claimed that 108 out of a total 148 seats in the crucial Punjab province has already been given to the ruling PML-Q party, leaving only 40 seats to the opposition.

"We are all worried that the elections are going to be rigged in favour of the ruling party... There are 148 seats in Punjab, the government has been told to give 108 seats to them. That means we'll only be fighting over 40 seats," Bhutto said in an interview published in The Washington Post and Newsweek.

When asked if the PML-Q, which backs President Pervez Musharraf, will win the polls in Punjab, the two-time premier retorted: "They won't win it. Hopefully we will make him (Musharraf) lose it".

Bhutto praised political rival Nawaz Sharif for deciding to participate in the polls, saying he is playing a very positive role by not boycotting the January 8 election.

"When he came here, his alliance wanted him to boycott the polls. I said to him that the point is to try to work together, but if we boycott, there is no need for them to rig the elections because they'll win with an overwhelming majority, and they'll get to do whatever they want in the parliament. But if we fight, we'll force them to rig, and if both of us fight, they'll have to rig really big," Bhutto said.

Bhutto said the government had ghost voting stations which do not exist or whose locations nobody knows. She urged international observers to "go to the improvised polling stations and force the Election Commission to identify them".

The Pakistan People's Party chief claimed that people around Musharraf had sympathy for militants and said that she was "shocked to see how embedded (extremism) it is".

"Let's not forget, when the Taliban came down from Tora Bora (Afghanistan), they were on the run -- they were absolutely broken. But they have reorganised. They could not do that unless there is some support from the government or intelligence," Bhutto remarked.

She said it was like a miracle to see Musharraf doff his uniform, which she credits to pressure from the United States, but doubted if the president will restore the judiciary he dismissed after the imposition of emergency.

Bhutto said the ruling party would like to come back to power but take a prime minister from her party, adding the PPP will not accept the arrangement.

"They would like to say we had an election, and now we've got a legitimate government and we have got the country's most popular party on board... The PPP will not buy into it," Bhutto said.