Musharraf promises fair elections in Pakistan

PAKISTAN: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday pledged that presidential and general elections would be “free and fair” and held in accordance with the country’s laws, state media reported.

Presidential elections will be held between September 15 to October 15, while general elections are due late this year or in early 2008.

“The presidential election will be held in accordance with the law and the constitution,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Musharraf as telling MPs and mayors in the town of Bahawalpur in Punjab province.

“Both general and presidential elections will be held in a free and fair manner,” said the country’s military ruler, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999. Opposition parties say that under Pakistan’s constitution, a military general cannot stand in presidential or general elections.

Critics say his decision to suspend the country’s chief justice in March — later overturned by the Supreme Court — was a naked bid to remove any constitutional obstacles to remaining “president in uniform”.

The embattled president is facing the deepest crisis of his rule, with a wave of Islamist violence sweeping the country amid US accusations that Pakistan’s border areas have become a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Musharraf last week flirted with declaring emergency rule to cope with a wave of popular anger over his eight-year rule.

Islamabad, Sunday, AFP