The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf will lift the state of emergency on December 15, a day earlier than previously planned, the attorney general told AFP on Friday.

"The emergency will be lifted on December 15," attorney general Malik Muhammad Qayyum told AFP.

Musharraf had earlier pledged to lift the state of emergency on December 16.

The announcement by the attorney general, who is also the government's chief lawyer, could not be immediately confirmed to AFP by a very close aide of president Musharraf.

Reuters adds: Pakistani opposition parties have failed to reach agreement on demands to set the government to ensure their participation in next month's election, making a united opposition boycott increasingly unlikely.

Former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, both recently back from years in exile, are trying to forge a "charter of demands" to present to President Perez Musharraf to ensure a fair election and their participation. A boycott by the two main opposition parties and smaller allies would deprive the vote of credibility and prolong instability that has raised concern about the nuclear-armed U.S. ally and its efforts to fight growing Islamist militancy.

After three days of talks the parties have agreed on 13 demands they hope will allow a fair vote, including ensuring the neutrality of a caretaker government made up Musharraf supporters and reconstituting the Election Commission.

But they have been unable to agree on whether to demand the restoration of dozens of judges dismissed by Musharraf after he imposed emergency rule on Nov. 3, and whether to set the government a deadline to meet their demands.

"We have differences of opinion over the restoration of judges and giving a deadline to the government to meet the charter of demands," Sharif told reporters in Lahore.