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Download PDF Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf was sworn in as president for a second term yesterday. He set a date for lifting of the emergency rule and promised polls on January 8.
Musharraf promised to lift Pakistan’s state of emergency on December 16, in a long-awaited gesture of reconciliation hours after being sworn in as a civilian leader.
Addressing the nation on state television, Musharraf said he would also restore the constitution that was suspended when he declared emergency rule on November 3.
“I have full resolve to lift the emergency and withdraw the PCO on December 16,” Musharraf said, referring to the provisional constitutional order that officially brought in emergency rule.
He vowed general elections on January 8 “will be held according to the constitution in a fair and transparent manner.”
A day after standing down from the army which brought him to power in a coup in 1999, Musharraf took the oath of office for another five years at the presidential palace in Islamabad.
He called it “a milestone” in Pakistan’s transition to democracy and vowed January 8 elections would go ahead “come hell or high water”.
As he spoke there were clashes in the eastern city of Lahore, where police baton-charged hundreds of lawyers protesting against his swearing-in. Lawyers said 12 to 15 were hurt and several arrested.
“We want democracy, we want human rights, we want civil liberties but we will do it our way,” Musharraf, 64, said in a speech after a solemn oath-taking ceremony shown live on national television.
“We understand our society, our environment, better than anyone in the West,” he said.
The oath was administered by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, who was propelled into the job when Musharraf sacked the nation’s previous top judge for refusing to recognise the state of emergency.
“It is indeed a historic day and emotional day for me. This is a milestone in the transition of Pakistan to a complete essence of democracy,” Musharraf said, wearing a traditional black Pakistani tunic.
He extended an olive branch to his rivals Benazir and Sharif, saying their recent return from exile was “good for political reconciliation”.
But the ongoing political tensions that he faces were shown by the clashes in Lahore. Witnesses said lawyers chanting “Go, Musharraf, Go!” pelted police with stones and bottles. Police said some of their officers were also injured.
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto told AFP yesterday that her party now plans to take part in January 8 general elections but reserved the right to pull out later.
“To take the process forward we have to take part, we believe, either to force the elections to be credible or–if it’s rigged–to demonstrate that it has been forcibly rigged,” Bhutto said in a telephone interview.
“The PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) is participating under protest but reserving the right to boycott subsequently,” the two-time former prime minister added.
Former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif said that an alliance of opposition parties will boycott elections in January and would try to persuade others including Benazir Bhutto to join them.
“We are boycotting these elections,” Sharif told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore after a meeting of the All Parties Democratic Movement, which groups Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and other parties.
“We will try to convince other political parties so that this boycott is effective,” he said, adding they would call a meeting with leaders of other opposition groups including Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party.
The United States yesterday welcomed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s plan to lift emergency rule on December 16 and urged against any boycott of elections set for three weeks later.
“We welcome this step,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, noting that US President George W Bush had called such a move “an essential step in order to get Pakistan back on the path to democracy.”
Amid warnings that some of Musharraf’s political foes might shun elections planned for January 8, Perino called for “the candidates and the people to fully participate in these free and fair elections.”
She also urged Musharraf to ensure that his critics “be able to voice their opinions, that they be able to assemble, and that they be able to have the freedom of the press that they had had before the emergency order.”
Britain also welcomed yesterday President Musharraf’s pledge to lift Pakistan’s state of emergency, while saying other restrictions also need to be lifted to allow free elections.
“I welcome President Musharraf’s announcement that the state of emergency will be lifted on 16 December, and Pakistan’s constitution restored,” Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement.
“The UK looks forward to the lifting of this state of emergency and to the lifting of all the remaining restrictions. Both these steps are necessary so that all parties can participate fully and so that free and fair elections can take place,” he added.
China, one of Pakistan’s closest allies, congratulated Musharraf, saying it was confident he would be able to maintain the country’s social stability and economic development.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:23 am
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