(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-31 18:29

ISLAMABAD - The election commission of Pakistan held an emergency meeting here on Monday and said that it would make a decision on parliamentary elections issues on Tuesday, local TV channel DAWN NEWS reported.

Pakistan's Election Commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad (C) speaks to reporters outside the commission's office in Islamabad December 31, 2007. Pakistan's electoral officials will decide on Tuesday whether to go ahead with a January poll. [Agencies]

The Election Commission asked provincial governments to submit reports on law and order situation and then it would make a decision on Tuesday, said the report.

Since a number of district election offices across the country, especially in the southern Sindh province, have been completely destroyed in riots following former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination, it is hard for the election commission to hold the polls as per schedule, the report said.

Bhutto's party Pakistan People's Party (PPP) held a central executive committee meeting in her hometown in the southern Sindh province on Sunday and decided to contest the general elections.

The PPP urged the election commission to hold polls on time.

Local media earlier suggested that the general elections could be postponed for a few weeks, taking the overall situation in the country into account.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, President of Pakistan Muslim League- Quaid (PML-Q), which supports President Pervez Musharraf, said on Monday his party was ready for the January 8 polls.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, also announced on Sunday that it would take part in general elections following PPP's announcement.