The Hindu : Front Page : Emergency to go on December 15

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 10, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Emergency to go on December 15

Sharif’s party to contest elections; there was lot of pressure, says spokesman

Washington/Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said in a CNN interview broadcast on Sunday that he would lift the Emergency on December 15 and guaranteed free and fair polls.

Even as Gen. Musharraf came out with the announcement, the former Premier Nawaz Sharif’s party, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), on Sunday decided to contest the polls. Its spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told AFP that there was lot of pressure from the public and its workers that the party should contest the elections.

He said: “Since Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party is not with us on the boycott issue and is contesting the election, and also some other parties, we cannot leave the field open.”

I mean it: Musharraf

Confirming remarks by the Attorney general that the Emergency would be lifted a day earlier than previously planned, Gen. (retd.) Musharraf said in the interview on “Late Edition” of CNN: “The Emergency will be finished on the 15th, I mean every word of it. I give commitments, which I always follow and honour.”

He also promised that the January 8 elections would be free. “Yes. I do guarantee that they will be free and fair. Absolutely.”

Asked if former Premiers Benazir Bhutto and Mr. Sharif would be permitted to run as candidates, he said this was up to the Election Commission and courts to decide.

Gen. Musharraf also lashed out at the critics in the U.S., who accuse the Pakistani military and intelligence of sympathising with the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. “I take very serious exception to it. We are suffering here. Give me the proof. What proof do they have? Nil; It is just their guess. We are trying our best to locate them,” he said. — AFP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page