Musharraf announces end of emergency rule

Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf said today he was “determined” to lift the country’s state of emergency in just over a fortnight.

He said he intended and restore Pakistan’s constitution before January elections, a key demand of his domestic opponents and foreign backers.

“I am determined to lift the emergency by December 16,” Mr Musharraf said in a television address to the nation. “The elections, God willing, will be held free and transparent under the constitution.”

Mr Musharraf said emergency rule had “saved the nation” and urged rivals and former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif not to boycott January’s general elections.

Yesterday Mr Musharraf stepped down as commander of the military amid heavy domestic and international pressure.

In the televised speech hours after taking the oath of civilian office, Mr Musharraf said ``a level playing field'' had been given to all parties, and others should ``participate fully''.

In the inauguration ceremony chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar administered the oath to a solemn-looking Mr Musharraf, dressed in long black tunic adorned only with a pin of Pakistan’s green and white flag.

“This is a milestone in the transition of Pakistan to the complete essence of democracy,” Mr Musharraf told an audience of government officials, foreign diplomats and military generals at the state palace in Islamabad.

Neither Ms Bhutto nor Mr Sharif was present at the ceremony, and it remained unclear whether the changeover would defuse the threat of an election boycott. Such a move would undercut Mr Musharraf’s effort to legitimise his rule through a democratic ballot.

A day after blinking back tears as he ended his military career, Mr Musharraf appeared to be back to his usual bullish self.

“Anyone who is talking of any boycotts should hear this out: Come hell or high water, elections will be held on January 8. Nobody derails it,” he said.