Pakistan Will Elect Parliament Feb. 25 After 8-Year Suspension

President Zia ul-Haq announced Saturday that elections will be held Feb. 25 to replace the Parliament disbanded in 1977 with the imposition of martial law, which is still in force.

In a nationwide broadcast, Zia said the elections to the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, will be followed on Feb. 28 by voting for legislatures of Pakistan’s four provinces--Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan, and North-West Frontier.

Zia said each provincial assembly will elect members to the upper house of the Parliament, the Senate, in mid-March. The new Parliament is to open on March 23.

Zia overthrew civilian Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on July 5, 1977, dissolving all parliamentary institutions and banning political parties and activities two years later. Bhutto was executed in 1979 after being convicted of state crimes, including corruption.

Zia had repeatedly promised to hold elections but has postponed them, saying voting would unbalance fragile political conditions.

Zia said that although the coming elections are expected to start the process of power-sharing between the armed forces and elected civilian representatives, political parties will not be allowed to resurface in the campaign.

The election announcement came as police prevented the country’s major opposition alliance, the 11-party Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, from holding a meeting to announce its position on general elections. On Friday, opposition sources said authorities had arrested 41 opposition leaders and activists who will be detained for 90 days.

The opposition parties have said they will boycott the elections and continue protests against Zia and his controversial referendum last month that assured him five more years in power.