ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, April 11 (UPI) -- Opponents of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said Wednesday an interim government is needed to ensure the next elections will be free and fair.
Leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, or United Council of Action, and the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy jointly said they are against Musharraf, who is also the country's army chief, supervising the elections scheduled for next October.
The demands were made at a workshop on investigative journalism, organized by the Pakistan Press Foundation and the Asia Foundation, the Daily Times reported.
Farid Paracha, leader of MMA, an alliance of religious-political parties opposed to Musharraf's policies, said the next elections cannot be fair under him and that an interim government, formed with the consent of all political forces, is needed, the Times reported.
A senator from Pakistan People's Party said Musharraf should give up both his offices to ensure fair elections.
Separately, Musharraf, speaking in Sialkot, said he is committed to ensuring the elections will be fair, free and transparent, the report said. He was quoted as saying for the first time in Pakistan's history the assemblies were completing their constitutional term.
