The World - News from June 1, 1988

Leaders of Pakistan’s main opposition parties said they will not participate in an election controlled by President Zia ul-Haq. “Any election held under Zia’s supervision cannot be acceptable to us,” Benazir Bhutto, head of the Pakistan People’s Party, said in reply to Zia’s announcement that he will call elections within 90 days. Mohammed Asghar Khan, a leader of the nine-party Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, said he agrees. Bhutto said free and fair elections could only be held under a supervisory body composed of an equal number of officials from the government and opposition.