Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday said that he was determined to remove his army uniform and hold the general election due by mid-January 'as close as possible to the schedule" despite the imposition of emergency in the country. "I am determined to execute this third stage of transition fully and I'm determined to remove my uniform once we correct these pillars in judiciary and the executive and the parliament," he said while explaining the reasons for emergency.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday said elections would be held for a complete transition to democracy though he did not set a date for the polls.
Police lathicharged and arrested over a 1,000 lawyers who took to the streets across Pakistan on Monday in protest against the imposition of emergency even as rumours that President Pervez Musharraf had been put under house arrest swept the country.
"The US should take the lead, with other world powers, in putting maximum pressure on Musharraf to return to democracy. I think it's not enough that Secretary Rice speaks out. The president has to speak out, and in more specific terms. We have bolstered Musharraf with billions of dollars in recent years, and military support, and we ought to be specific that it's not going to continue," Republican Senator Arlen Specter said.
London-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement founder-leader Altaf Hussain was reserved while commenting on the imposition of emergency in Pakistan.
Will his calculation be proved right? Unlikely. He has created so many pockets of anger in Pakistan against himself and the US that it would be highly improbable that he would succeed in extinguishing the jihadi fire of his own creation. Musharraf proposes, bin Laden disposes. That may be the ultimate denouement in Pakistan.
"The imposition of martial law will lead to the downfall of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. He will have to lose power to pay the price for siding with America," said Hamid Mir, the political editor of Geo television channel, in a telephonic conversation with rediff.com.
The officials had manhandled Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in March, soon after he was removed as chief justice by President Musharraf.
A bomb exploded near the official residence of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, killing at least six people and leaving several injured.
Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf is loving every moment of his retired life and is looking forward to his lecture tour to India next month, as he plans to counter the Indians on their own home ground. After being at the helm of affairs for nine years, the former military ruler is currently keeping himself busy giving lectures. He has just returned to Pakistan after a two-week lecture tour in the United States.
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif will not return to the country before the general elections, President Pervez Musharraf has said. The president exuded confidence that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League will return to power, saying the next prime minister will be from the PML. Musharraf was addressing about 170 legislators of the party, including federal ministers, at a dinner at the prime minister's House.
As troops fanned out in Pakistan's north-western province to counter activities of a pro-Taliban cleric, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said the main threat to the country's national security is "internal" with a handful of extremists out to disrupt law and order.
Musharraf's proposals included demilitarisation, self rule and joint management of Kashmir.
Ruling out fleeing Pakistan, embattled President Pervez Musharraf said the killing of Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto upset his "plan" under which he would have wielded control over key portfolios of security, foreign and defence while she would be the prime minister. In an interview to the Channel Five, Musharraf said that it was not his nature and training to be a mere spectator and leave things unfinished.
The United States has praised Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for his role in the war on terror, but said that Islamabad had not been successful in closing down the terror network in restive tribal areas on the Afghan border.
Talks between aides of President Pervez Musharraf and former premier Benazir Bhutto on forming a caretaker set-up to supervise Pakistan's general elections have been stopped by the government till the Supreme Court decides on the military ruler's re-election in uniform.
A majority of Pakistanis favour their government not fighting Al Qaeda and Taliban and view United States as the greatest threat to their personal safety, according to a survey by a US agency.Almost three-quarter of Pakistanis who participated in the poll opined that embattled President Pervez Musharraf should resign and if he doesn't, he should be removed by the Parliament.The survey, conducted across Pakistan, also said that the Al Qaeda has gained public support.
Musharraf and Aziz had both asked the Pakistan People's Party chief to defer her homecoming and the government had said she faced a threat from pro-Taliban militants, especially rebel leader Baitullah Mehsud.
"The day is not far off when someone like Salman Taseer will be in the Presidency. The PPP will soon appoint the next President," Zardari said addressing a gathering of PPP workers at the Governor's House in Lahore on Monday night.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that legal challenges to President Pervez Musharraf's re-election in uniform should be heard by a larger bench headed by the chief justice, adding to the uncertainty over a new five-year term for the beleaguered military ruler.
Musharraf's proposals of demilitarisation, self governance and joint management could provide a foundation for the resolution of the Kashmir issue after appropriate amendments, Farooq said.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is determined to return to Pakistan from self-exile on October 18, the Pakistan People's Party said in Islamabad on Monday. The government had asked Bhutto to postpone her homecoming till the Supreme Court decides on petitions against President Pervez Musharraf's re-election and a law giving Bhutto amnesty in graft cases. PPP spokesperson Sherry Rehman there was no confusion about the two-time prime minister's return programme.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has reiterated his country's commitment to continue contributing positively towards peace and harmony in the region keeping in view its geo-strategic location.
The clerics were told that if they did not stop, cases would be registered against them and they would be imprisoned.
Opposition parties which threatened to resign if he went ahead with the re-election plans say that it is an indication that Musharraf was not certain about pro-military alliance returning to power in general elections.
Former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan will participate in the "long march" organised by the lawyers' movement to press for the reinstatement of judges deposed by President Pervez Musharraf.
He also expressed 'optimism and hope' over the Indo-Pak peace process.
Describing the re-election of President Pervez Musharraf as a "perversion of democracy," a leading US daily has asked his "enablers" in Washington to make it clear to the general that he must respect the decision of Pakistan's Supreme Court.
Musharraf briefed the delegation about Pakistan's view on the situation in Afghanistan and told the Senators that a stable and strong Kabul was in the interest of the region.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is seeking a new five-year term in uniform on Saturday in a key poll which the Opposition has threatened to boycott to rob the General's expected victory of any credibility.
Bhutto said she was expecting the National Reconciliation Ordinance -- which would grant amnesty to political leaders in corruption cases -- to come out on Thursday.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N on Wednesday said that it would finalise its response, to a constitutional reforms package drawn up by its ally Pakistan People's Party to clip the sweeping powers of President Pervez Musharraf, by Thursday.A committee formed by Sharif to examine the package met for the second time in the day and its chairman Raja Zafrul Haq said the panel had completed reviewing two-thirds of the contents of the package.
Musharraf admitted that the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency has been involved in the political arena for the past five decades.
Pal, who succeeded Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, was among the seven new envoys of different countries who presented their credentials separately at a colourful ceremony at the Presidential office in Islamabad.
The US on Saturday said it wanted a "smooth and successful transition" to democratic civilian government in Pakistan.
The Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday allowed President Pervez Musharraf to contest the presidential election in uniform, ARY TV reported.
Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, who was reportedly detained earlier while demonstrating against President Pervez Musharraf's Kashmir policy, has been on a hunger strike for the past five days.
Acknowledging that she has met secretly with President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has said that the power sharing deal with the general is not possible unless he takes concrete steps towards democracy.
Emerging reports from Pakistan suggest that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf might opt to step down in the wake of a meeting with the Army chief though the President himself denied the news. Musharraf held a meeting with army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the Army House in Rawalpindi on Wednesday night that lasted over three-and-half hours.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday filed his nomination papers for the October 6 presidential polls, formally launching his bid for another five-year term in the face of legal challenges and stiff protests by the opposition parties.
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