Pervez Musharraf has said general election in the emergency-ruled country will be held on January 8 and the army will not be deployed during the polls as in the past.
KARACHI: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said general election in the emergency-ruled country will be held on January 8 and the army will not be deployed during the polls as in the past.
"Inshallah, the general election in the country would be held on January 8," the militray ruler said at a farewell dinner for outgoing members of Sindh Assmebly on Sunday evening, a day after US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte delivered a 'strong' message to him.
Musharraf said he would make a recommendation to this effect to the Election Commission which will met this week.
Earlier, Musharraf said unlike in the past, the army would not be called out during the polls and the situation would be handled by police and civil authorities.
"My concern is to have free, fair and transparent elections, with better law and order," he said in an interview aired on state-run PTV.
Speaking at another function in Karachi, Musharraf also stepped up attack on opposition parties that have threatened to boycott the general election, saying they were fleeing from polls as they had realised they could not win.
Though Musharraf did not name anyone, his criticism was apparently aimed at former premier Benazir Bhutto, whose Pakistan People's Party has said it could boycott elections if they were held under the emergency imposed by the military ruler on November 3.
"They have resorted to agitational politics and are threatening to boycott the elections just to run away from the elections. But we will go into the elections and I think that (they) all will participate in the forthcoming elections," he said.
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