Pak elections could be held early: Rashid

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's parliamentary elections due at the end of the year could be held "early" if President Pervez Musharraf agrees not to insist on being elected by the current assemblies, a senior minister has said.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid said general elections could be held "early" if President Musharraf agrees not to insist on being elected by the existing federal and provincial assemblies, Geo television reported.

"The elections have to be late if the president decides on his election by the current assemblies. Otherwise they can be held early," the channel quoted Rashid as saying.

Projecting an air of confidence, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz last week had predicted that this will be the first parliament in Pakistan's history to finish its full five-year term.

Aziz had said that he expects President Musharraf to secure another five years in office in spite of the ongoing turmoil over the suspension of Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afghan Niazi said last week that notwithstanding threats of the Opposition parties to resign en mass, President Musharraf would go ahead with his plans to get re-elected in Army uniform by existing national and provincial assemblies between September and October this year.

The United States, a key supporter of the Musharraf regime, has left the issue of Musharraf holding the dual office of the President and the army chief to the Pakistani leader himself.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, who were in Islamabad last week, have hinted that Washington has no problem with Musharraf's re-election in uniform but its emphasis would be on the General holding free and fair elections due after November 15.