By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharrafissued a warning to opposition parties to accept the result ofMonday's election and not resort to agitation if it goesagainst them, while guaranteeing it will be free and fair.
"They should not be under any illusion that they will bringpeople to the streets after the election. Nothing of that sortwill be allowed," Musharraf said in comments at a seminartelecast on Thursday by state-run Pakistan Television.
"In this situation of extremism and terrorism, noagitation, anarchy or chaos can be acceptable."
Musharraf, who came to power as a general in a 1999 coup,quit as army chief in November after securing a secondfive-year term in circumstances his foes describe asunconstitutional.
Monday's vote is for a new National Assembly and provincialassemblies, and a hostile new parliament could seek his ouster.
Opposition parties have accused the government of trying torig the polls to favour Musharraf's allies and have threatenedto launch protests if they feel cheated.
"Don't show arrogance, if you win, and show grace, if youlose, accept the results," Musharraf said, rejecting theopposition's allegations.
"I am conscious of the fact that the elections should befree, fair and transparent and they have to be seen free, fairand transparent and also peaceful. The entire world is watchingus," he said.
"I guarantee that these will be free and fair."
He said there could be lower-level tactical irregularitiesby candidates but the government would not be involved.
VIOLENCE
The United States and Pakistan's other Western allies fearinstability in nuclear-armed Pakistan could play into the handsof militants linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban.
However, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormacktold reporters that "people have the right to peacefullyprotest and to peacefully speak ... their opinions, regardlessof whether those opinions are supportive of a government andits policies or not."
Violence has intensified in the country in the run-up tothe vote that was delayed from January 8 after theassassination of opposition leader and former prime ministerBenazir Bhutto.
Her Pakistan People's Party (PPP), led by her widower AsifAli Zardari, is expected to emerge as the largest party in the342-seat National Assembly partly due to sympathy.
Earlier this week Zardari met with Nawaz Sharif, the primeminister Musharraf overthrew, to discuss how to fight fordemocracy. Zardari said the PPP would go to "any extent" toprotest a rigged election, without elaborating.
Protected by bullet-proof glass Zardari told supporters inFaisalabad that Pakistan had been turned into "a hell" duringthe past eight years.
"On February 18, you will have to choose between those whohave broken Pakistan or those who can save it," he told a crowdof around 6,000 in the industrial city in central Punjabprovince.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday saidshe was concerned about election violence in Pakistan.
At least 24 people have been killed and more than 30wounded in bomb attacks on political workers in the last weekalone.
Paramilitary troops, who stepped up patrols in the electionrun-up, said they had confiscated a haul of weapons partsincluding rifle scopes and rocket launcher sights during acheck on southern Sindh province's main highway on Monday, andarrested a man from Swat, a militant-troubled region in thenorthwest.
Musharraf described Monday's vote as "mother of allelections" and urged international opinion poll firms not to"incite trouble" by pre-judging results.
A BBC World Service/Gallup Pakistan poll, conducted in lateJanuary, found that almost two-thirds of Pakistanis say theprompt resignation of Musharraf would improve security, whileless than a third view his November re-election as valid.
(For a Reuters blog on Pakistan please seehttp:blogs//reuters.com/pakistan)
(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington;Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Eric Walsh)
