KARACHI, Nov 20: Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto said on Tuesday that her party would take a decision in a day or two on whether to take part in the coming elections.

Addressing a press conference after a meeting of her party’s central executive committee, she said the issue of taking part in the elections or otherwise had been discussed at length, but final decision had not been taken.

Ms Bhutto, who was accompanied by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Lashkari Raisani, Jehangir Badr, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Yousuf Raza Gillani, said that at the CEC meeting she had sought the opinion of party leaders and a decision would be taken within two days.

When asked why in her opinion had President General Pervez Musharraf gone to Saudi Arabia at a time while the country was facing a crisis, she said he might have gone to offer prayers.

About the likelihood of Gen Musharraf meeting former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, she said during a phone conversation with her Mr Sharif did not speak about such a possibility.“I had talked to Nawaz Sharif last night and he did not indicate about any meeting with Musharraf.”

Ms Bhutto added: “If he (General Musharraf) calls on Nawaz Sharif we’ll welcome it.” She did not elaborate.

She said that during the conversation with Mr Sharif and also with PML-N leader Iqbal Zafar Jhagra she had discussed the possibility of a common minimum programme for launching a joint struggle against the dictatorship.

“I am in contact with the PML-N and other parties to form a coalition on common grounds to restore democracy in Pakistan,” she said.

The PPP, she said, wanted that all the political leaders to meet her over a cup of tea and discuss the future line of action.

Answering a question about President Musharraf leaving the army post, she said it would be good for the nation and the military to have a full-time commander because General Musharraf had harmed the army by involving it in politics.

She accused the government of having planned pre-poll riggings. “We have reports that 108 PML(Q) candidates have been selected across the country and each of them is being given 25,000 ballots to rig the polls. It will be a great mockery of the sanctity of ballot,” she said.

She demanded release of all political leaders, including Imran Khan, Asfandyar Wali and Akhtar Mengal, journalists, lawyers and political workers.

She also called for the reinstatement of the deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

She said that General Musharraf had gagged the media and sacked the judges of the superior judiciary to rig elections.

“This coward government could not face the court of the people and imposed the emergency to perpetuate its rule.”

Ms Bhutto did not agree with a suggestion that she was in the country because of the National Reconciliation Ordinance and said it was not a PPP-specific law.

“I am not here due to the NRO. I have faced cases for 11 years but the courts did not sentence me,” she said.

She also condemned the arrest of more than 100 journalists in Karachi during a protest on Tuesday.

Resolutions adopted by the CEC on Tuesday condemned the imposition of emergency, suspension of the Constitution, removal and detention of judges, arrests of political activists and curbs on the media.

A resolution said the military dictatorship endangered the survival of the federation. “The nation knows that the proclamation of emergency was not to combat terrorism but to remove the judges who were to declare General Musharraf’s election as president illegal and to crush the opposition through rigged elections,” it said.

Another resolution condemned the ban on Geo and ARY television channels.