ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's opposition parties are nearing agreement on a list of conditions for taking part in January's parliamentary elections.
The meeting between representatives of former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif and other smaller parties are crucial to an opposition push to challenge the political dominance of President Pervez Musharraf.
Opposition spokesman Senator Khursheed Ahmed says the various parties are nearing agreement and should complete their task Thursday.
Party leaders have threatened to boycott the vote unless their demands are met.
Their refusal to participate would undercut the efforts of Musharraf -- a key ally in the U.S. war on terror -- to ease Pakistan back toward democracy after eight years of military rule.
The parties are demanding an end to emergency rule and the release of former Supreme Court judges who were fired amid indications that they were preparing to invalidate Musharraf's election in October to a new presidential term.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, chairman of the governing Pakistan Muslim League, dismissed the opposition demands as unrealistic.
"In fact, the two alliances have nothing to attract people and are therefore raising non-issues,'' he was quoted as saying by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency.
Sharif, whose candidacy has been rejected by election officials, and Bhutto are long-standing political foes. But the two have been drawn together since returning from exile by the common goal of confronting Musharraf.
Their move to formulate a joint set of conditions raises the stakes for government, which they accuse of planning to conduct a sham election.
Ahsan Iqbal, spokesman for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N, said the issues under consideration included the restoration of an independent judiciary and the constitution, creation of a neutral caretaker government and an independent election commission, along with a deadline for the government to accept the demands.
"The present situation demands that all democratic forces work in unity and collectively to save the country from a major catastrophe, which will result after rigged elections,'' Iqbal said.
But another politician, former cricket star Imran Khan, insisted the united opposition should stay away from the ballot.
"You do not have elections when fundamental rights are suspended,'' Khan said on Dawn Television. "Never has any judiciary been butchered as it has been in Pakistan (and) by taking part in elections we would legitimize everything Musharraf has done.''
Since he declared emergency rule, Musharraf has filled the Supreme Court with loyalists and jailed hundreds of human rights workers, civic activists and lawyers.
Most have since been released and Musharraf has promised to lift the emergency Dec. 16, about three weeks ahead of the elections. But repression continues.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan urged the public to mark Dec. 10 as a "black day'' by displaying black flags and wearing black bands.
It called 2007 one of the worst years for human rights in the country's history and rejected Musharraf's claims that he is restoring democracy as "a total farce.''
On Tuesday, two U.S. human rights activists -- identified as Medea Benjamin and Tighe Barry -- were arrested in the eastern city of Lahore after holding protests and calling for the release of Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton said the two had been turned over to U.S. consular officials and were expected to leave Pakistan "in the next day or so.''
