The New Nation - Internet Edition

Agencies, New Delhi

The opposition group in Pakistan, All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), has decided to boycott the January elections.

Former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif's party is a part of the APDM so he is not contesting.

Meanwhile former premier Benazir Bhutto's party, PPP, is not a member but whether or not she will contest remains to be seen.

APDM, however, scheduled to hold talks with Bhutto and Maulana Fazlur Rehman to boycott polls after President Pervez Musharraf announced that he would lift Emergency in the country only on December 16.

"I intend to lift Emergency by December 16, repeal the PCO and hold elections within the Constitution," said Musharraf.

Emergency was no longer necessary, Musharraf said now that his own election had been legally validated and Pakistan was successfully dealing with terrorism at home.

"Now we need national consensus, political reconciliation, good governance," added Musharraf.

Musharraf appealed to the main opposition to participate in the January 8 elections.

But early reactions from the PPP and PML(N) indicated that they were not wholly convinced.

Musharraf is yet to agree to two of their key demands set up an independent Election Commission and restore the Chief Justice.

Meanwhile, Pakistani opposition leaders Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto set their parties to work Tuesday on a list of demands they say the government must meet to stop them boycotting elections in January.

The former premiers agreed to join forces at a meeting late Monday, saying that they would consider boycotting next month's crucial vote if President Pervez Musharraf does not agree to extra steps for free polls. Musharraf last week pledged to lift a month-old state of emergency by December 16, ahead of the key polls on January 8, but the opposition say the vote will still be unfair.

A committee set up by the parties of the two ex-premiers to draft the "charter of demands" had its maiden session on Tuesday, Sharif's spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told AFP.

"They have started work now," Iqbal said.

The chairman of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, Raja Zafarul Haq, said the committee's demands would be based on the discussions between Sharif and Bhutto on Monday night but would focus on fair elections.