Musharraf: Elections Should Be on Time

Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007 | 11:03 a.m.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's military ruler said Sunday that parliamentary elections should be held on schedule, but that a state of emergency would stay in place to ensure that the polls were free and transparent.

"We should have elections before the 9th of January," President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said at a press conference, refusing to set a timeline for lifting emergency rule.

"Certainly the emergency is required to ensure peace in Pakistan, to ensure an environment conducive to elections," he said, also noting, "The emergency contributes toward better law and order and a better fight against terrorism."

"And therefore all I can say is, I do understand the emergency has to be lifted, but I cannot give a date," he said.

Meanwhile, officials said Sunday that Musharraf has amended a law to give army courts sweeping powers to try civilians on charges ranging from treason to inciting public unrest, a development that comes as a key opposition leader prepared to stage a 185-mile march in defiance of a ban.

Musharraf just over a week ago imposed a state of emergency he said was to help fight Islamic militancy. But the main targets of his crackdown have been his most outspoken critics, including the increasingly independent judiciary and media.

The army chief - under pressure from the United States and other Western allies to return to the path of democracy - won praise for agreeing Saturday to lift the emergency within weeks.

President Bush described promises to restore civilian rule as "positive," throwing Washington's support firmly behind the embattled Pakistani leader. The United States considers Musharraf a bulwark in the war on terrorism.

On Sunday, Musharraf said the decision to impose emergency rule was the most difficult he ever had to make, but that it was necessary. He also defended a decision to remove Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the independent-minded chief justice, accusing him of corruption.

Musharraf raised questions about everything from Chaudhry's travel and fuel bills to his choice of vehicle. He also ruled out reinstating the deposed chief justice.

Meanwhile, the decision to amend the Pakistan Army Act - confirmed by Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum on Sunday - is likely to raise fresh concerns. It would allow military courts to try people accused of treason, sedition, or "giving statements conducive to public mischief."

In theory, that could include opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who said she would defy Musharraf's ban on public gatherings and lead supporters on a march from the eastern city of Lahore to the capital Islamabad on Tuesday.

"When the masses combine, the sound of their steps will suppress the sound of military boots," Bhutto, a former prime minister, told hundreds of protesters Saturday, almost immediately after she was freed from 24 hours of house arrest.

Thousands of people have been arrested, TV news stations taken off air, and judges removed from office since Musharraf imposed his state of emergency. Three reporters from Britain's Daily Telegraph meanwhile left Pakistan on Sunday after being expelled in protest of a commentary in their newspaper that used an expletive in reference to Musharraf.

Many critics say the main goal of Musharraf's emergency was to pre-empt a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of his victory in a presidential election last month. Under the constitution, public servants cannot run for office.

Musharraf said Sunday he did not expect foreign governments to cut aid to Pakistan because of his declaration of emergency rule.

He also said Pakistan would invite international observers to scrutinize the vote, and that opposition supporters who had been arrested since the declaration of emergency would be released to take part in the polls. But he warned they could be detained again.

Anyone who "disturbs law and order and wants to create anarchy in the name of elections and democracy, we will not allow that," Musharraf said.