By Xinhua
Islamabad : Pakistani Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani Thursday asked the opposition parties to bring their candidates for presidential elections and discard the policy of confrontation.
Talking to reporters here, Durrani said now that the schedule for the presidential elections has been announced, the opposition should better concentrate on elections.
The Election Commission of Pakistan announced Thursday that the presidential elections would be held on Oct 6.
Durrani was quoted by the News Network International (NNI) news agency as saying that President Pervez Musharraf would be the candidate of the ruling coalition, and the government would welcome if the opposition filed their own candidates.
He added that the government had the necessary majority to get Musharraf re-elected.
Durrani also asked the opposition to respect the judiciary and accept its verdicts.
He said the government accepts judgments of the Supreme Court and the opposition should also learn to respect the national institutions. He regretted that some opposition leaders were threatening not to accept a verdict if it was not as per their wishes.
He criticized the opposition for targeting the Election Commission on the issue of notification about presidential election rules, saying there was no logic in the stance of the opposition that the Election Commission could not issue such a notification in pendency of a case in the Supreme Court.
Durrani said presidential elections would be followed by general elections and the government would continue dialogue process with all political parties, including the opposition Peoples Party (PPP) on holding of free and fair polls. He said the democratic process would continue as per law and the constitution.