Any attempt to rig next month's parliamentary elections could lead to anarchy and help Islamic militancy spread further, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Monday.
"If the militancy spreads and if, God forbid, the country disintegrates, it would become another Afghanistan where people are living like refugees in camps," Bhutto told a crowd of about 12,000 supporters during a campaign stop in Hyderabad.
Her doomsday scenario seems unlikely, but there are widespread worries inside Pakistan and among its Western supporters that a recent rise in militancy could spread beyond the lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
President Pervez Musharraf cited the need to curb militancy when he imposed a state of emergency on Nov. 3. But he also used the emergency to crack down on dissent, and two days after he lifted it, there is no sign of any more tolerance for protest.