In Pakistan’s case, General Musharraf is not a politician willing to lose power for a few years to return to office in a subsequent election. Pakistan’s Election Commission and post-Emergency judiciary are mere instruments in the hands of the executive branch of government, which is firmly controlled by Musharraf.

Public opinion polls indicate that 70 per cent of Pakistanis want Musharraf to quit. The latest poll by US-based Terror Free Tomorrow shows 38 per cent support for PPP, 25 per cent for PML-N and only 12 per cent for PML-Q.

In the 2002 election, Pakistan’s poll manipulators gave the religious alliance MMA almost 21 per cent of seats in the National Assembly with only 11 per cent of the popular vote in a low turnout election.

This time, efforts are under way to depress the turnout with attacks on opposition rallies. Every opposition party has had some of its members killed in mysterious terrorist attacks that, for some strange reason, have not targeted the ruling PML-Q or its major ally, the MQM.

Will Musharraf learn from Indira Gandhi and let the people vote him out by letting the opposition win a two-thirds majority on election day as the polls clearly indicate or will he compound Pakistan’s misery by rigging the polls and creating a new round of confrontation? The future of Pakistan hinges on the answer to that question.

The writer is director of Boston University’s Centre for International Relations haqqani@bu.edu