US lawmakers on Tuesday voiced their conviction that the Pakistan elections, scheduled for February 18, will be rigged by President Pervez Musharraf [Images] and his cronies. They also expressed concern that the rigging would lead to post-election violence, similar to the ongoing Kenyan crisis, which may engulf the entire region.

During a Congressional hearing titled, 'Pakistani Elections: Will They Be Free and Fair or Fundamentally Flawed,' the lawmakers said they were perturbed that the Bush administration apparently had no contingency plans in place to tackle such post-election violence.

Congresswoman Betty McCollum, Minnesota Democrat, who recently visited Pakistan, said she was "very concerned about the upcoming elections in Pakistan and the potential for violence and instability."

"We saw that recently with the assassination (of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [Images])  in Pakistan," she said. "We're witnessing now what is taking place in Kenya, a month since the Kenya elections, and I don't think anybody in their wildest expectations thought what's taking place in Kenya would -- the riots, the killings, the mass killings."

Quoting the New York Times, McCollum said, "Kenyans are literally ripping their country apart, uprooting miles of railroad tracks, chopping down telephone polls, burning government offices and looting schools."

She argued, "The potential for a flawed election to destabilise Pakistan is a real one, and considering last year's challenges with who was even going to be allowed for election, I'm very concerned about a breakdown and the effect it will have on regional stability."

Congressman and Connecticut Republican Christopher Shays echoed similar concerns. "What happened in Kenya is, it strikes me, very likely to happen in Pakistan. And I don't know how we respond to it, but I think it's going to be very likely to happen."

Richard Boucher, Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asian Affairs and the Bush administration's point man for the subcontinent, was asked by McCollum about the steps the US and the international community have taken to prepare for the widespread violence and destabilisation that is likely to follow the election in Pakistan.

"I have to say honestly our first plan is Plan A, to try to make this process as good as possible," said Boucher.

"We do know the history of elections in Pakistan, where there's been fradulent elections, widespread abuses, there's been violence afterwards. And that's one more reason why it's important to have as good an election as possible, and everybody should work on that, and that's what we're doing and trying to get others to do," he added. 

McCollum argued that the potential of the post-election violence spilling over and affecting NATO forces in Afghanistan was real. "While we have respected, and I believe we should respect, the sovereignty of Pakistan and the operations conducted within its borders, if this comes apart, what happens next? Is there a Plan B? And are we working with the international community so it's well understood what the international community's reaction would be?"

Boucher responded, "Exactly what we would do, in the case of widespread violence after the election, would really depend on what it was and where it came from. If it were ignited by the militants, there's a chance we could work and see the society band together. But it were the result of electoral fraud, that, obviously, creates a much more complicated situation."

"So I don't think I'm really able to give you a clearer answer right now as to exactly what we would do," he said, But he acknowledged, "What you point out is a very real possibility, and we all need to push very hard to try to avoid coming to that point."

Pressed further about a contingency plan to tackle post-election violence in Pakistan, Boucher said, "We've looked at various scenarios but, until you find -- until you see the actual situation, it's very hard to decide precisely how to deal with it."

Earlier, State Department officials acknowledged that while the US would not "necessarily accept a certain level of fraud, if the history of elections in Pakistan is any guide and current reports are any guide, we should expect some."

But Boucher argued, "At the same time, I don't think we should give up on this election. I think if everybody works to make it a good election, we can have a credible election in Pakistan."

He added that it is imperative for "political parties, election commission, election observers, foreigners, people from domestic and civil society, everybody has to work to make this a good election so that the new leaders who emerge for Pakistan have that endorsement, have that legitimacy of coming out of a legitimate election process."

When Committee chairman Congressman John Tierney, Massachusetts Democrat, queried, "How much taint is going to be involved in those elections," Boucher shot back, "On a scale from terrible to great, it'll be somewhere in the middle."