Musharraf ready to work with new Pakistan govt

Islamabad, Mar 24: As Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) are set to form coalition government, President Pervez Musharraf has expressed hope that new government at the centre and in provinces would work for political stability.

Dawn newspaper today quoted Musharraf as saying in Islamabad that he was prepared to work with the new government and would extend it full support. He said an era of genuine democracy had begun and the new government would work for sustained economic development and combat extremism and terrorism.

A three-phase programme initiated eight years ago was now nearing completion with the formation of new governments in place both at the centre and in the provinces, he said.

''We laid the foundation of real democracy in the past eight years and put Pakistan on the path of progress and development,'' Mr Musharraf said.

The President said the government to be in place in few days would work to put Pakistan on the road to progress and prosperity.

Mr Musharraf lauded the caretaker government and the Election Commission for holding free, fair, transparent and impartial elections on February 18. He appreciated the role of law-enforcement agencies in ensuring peaceful polls.

The president said Pakistan did not have any aggressive designs against anyone and its military strategy was based on defensive deterrence. But, he said, defence and security could be attained through strength and economic progress and not through weakness.

UNI