PERHAPS no other schedule for a party-based election has evoked so little enthusiasm from the nation as the one announced by the Chief Election Commissioner on Tuesday. The election campaign will be a short, seven-week affair. In the real sense of the term, however, campaigning will be confined to 22 days, since the candidates' final lists will be on display on Dec 16. The PPP has yet to announce whether it will take part in the election, but it is obvious that the party, like other parties, will be there in the electoral arena. From the statements of its leaders it is apparent that PML-N will stay away from the polls. Elections will be there, but the big question is: what kind of elections will they be? The fact that the nation will go to the polls under the shadow of the emergency has already deprived the general election of credibility. The harshest aspect of emergency rule is that anyone can be arrested, because the Constitution's articles 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 25 guaranteeing fundamental rights stand suspended.

There are two other unpleasant truths - one, the interim governments at Islamabad and in the provinces are far from being neutral in character; two, the media stands gagged. This means, except for the fact that the parties have not been barred from taking part in it, there is little difference between the current situation and the 1985 general election held by Ziaul Haq under martial law. Technically speaking, the country is not under martial law, but for all practical purposes the military will be breathing down the neck of every citizen when he casts his vote on Jan 8.

On Monday, thousands of political prisoners were ordered released, but a number of them are still under arrest and would want to contest a seat to the federal or a provincial legislature. As pointed out by Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq, the relevant law requires that all candidates appear personally before the returning officer for filing nomination papers. If the elections are to have credibility with the people of Pakistan and the world, all political workers, lawyers and journalists must be released, the cases registered against them dropped and the ban on the two TV channels lifted. Besides, the interim governments must realise they have to act truly as neutrals, and ensure that the government machinery is not pressed into the service of the 'king's party'. This care is vital for a transparent election because many of those in the interim governments, including the prime minister himself, belong to the Muslim League-Q. One only hopes that the reports that the emergency may well be lifted after the Supreme Court's verdict on the Oct 6 presidential election turn out to be true. Admittedly, the lifting of the emergency will only bring cosmetic relief till the PCO remains in force.