Pakistan election rhetoric heats up

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called for free and fair elections Tuesday as one of his opponents called for officials to ignore Musharraf's orders.

Musharraf made his call for a transparent parliamentary election in Lahore, the seat of the regional Punjab government, Geo TV reported.

Elsewhere in the city, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party said his party was dropping its planned boycott of the election, as it would only have been feasible of all opposition parties embraced it, the report said.

Sharif said since Musharraf declared emergency rule on Nov. 3, suspended the constitution and replaced Supreme Court judges, his rule was "illegitimate" and urged police and government officials to disobey orders given by Musharraf, DailyIndia.com reported.

Musharraf defended his actions by saying the spread of terrorist activity in the country had reached emergency levels.