Islamabad: Pakistan's Election Commission today approved a controversial code of conduct for the upcoming general election.

The Election Commission took up a draft of the code prepared by the government in the wake of the suicide attack on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's homecoming procession in Karachi on Thursday night that killed nearly 140 people and injured hundreds more.

The code of conduct will now be circulated among political parties to obtain their views, Dawn News channel quoted officials as saying. Asked about reports that a ban on rallies was likely to have been part of the code, Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad told newsmen that "this is up to the political parties. They should suggest and then the EC will decide on their suggestions."

The ruling PML-Q is in favour of a ban on rallies and holding of public meetings only at the specified places. There were reports that this ban was to have been part of the code but it was apparently dropped due to widespread opposition from Bhutto s PPP, PML-N of exiled former Premier Nawaz Sharif and Jamaat-e Islami, which had vowed to defy it.

The general election in Pakistan is scheduled in the first half of January next year.

Source : PTI