Mush insists on his re-election for second term

Islamabad, Aug 31: Seeming to put on a brave face against the worst political troubles of his presidency, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has insisted that he must be elected for another term between September 15 and October 15 before general elections within this year.

Dawn newspaper quoted him as saying this during a question-and-answer programme on the state-run Pakistan Television.

He said there must be stability in the country in the run-up to the elections which, he said, would be free and fair, no matter which party wins and who becomes the next prime minister.

The president's remarks came amid intense speculation about his re-election and the future of his position as army chief as a result of a possible political deal with self-exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The programme ''Aiwan-i-Sadr Se'' was aired minutes after exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif announced his decision in London to return home on September 10 and oppose a deal that could give five more years to the man who ousted him in the October 1999 coup.

Gen Musharraf acknowledged there was uncertainty in the country, which he blamed on rumours and 'distortions (of facts) by design', but he said this situation should end in the next three to four months after the elections, though not much could be done instantly because ''I am not a dictator'' and ''democracy is our necessity''.

He ruled out a resort to declaring a state of emergency or imposing martial law as solutions.

The president twice referred to the presidential election only as ''my election'', apparently ruling out a rival candidate in a contest that seems fraught with both strong political opposition and constitutional problems to be decided by a newly assertive judiciary.

He did not say whether he would stand while retaining his second office of the Chief of the Army Staff or after giving up his uniform -- the demand of all opposition parties and even some members of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League.

''My election should be held between September 15 and October 15,'' he said, citing a provision inserted in the Constitution through the controversial 17th Amendment to provide for the vote a month before the end of the term of an incumbent.

''Next will be the elections for the National Assembly and the (four) provincial assemblies, which will be held within this year,'' he said.

''I hope people will vote for the right persons,'' he said, without any reference to the ruling coalition of his loyalists or the opposition parties.

In a related development , ruling Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain rejected Benazir Bhutto's claims that 90 per cent of her party' s deal with Gen Musharraf had been completed.

He said that only nine per cent of the issues had been resolved.

Hussain said after a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf last evening that he had conveyed to the president serious reservations of the party over the ongoing talks for a deal with the PPP and forwarded counter-proposals to him with regard to his uniform, Article 58(2) (b) and allowing a person third prime ministerial term.

Article 58 (2)(b) empowers the president to dismiss the government and dissolve the National Assembly in his own discretion.

He said he had advised Gen Musharraf against quitting the army post because he was eligible to hold the post till the end of this year and after his re-election.

He said President Musharraf would himself decide on the timing of shedding his uniform in accordance with law and the Constitution.

Chaudhry Shujaat said he had also advised the president not to give in on the Article 58(2) (b) issue and leave it to the next assembly. ''We have also told the president that the issue of allowing third term to the former prime ministers should also be kept pending till the next elections,'' he added.

Commenting on Ms Bhutto's statement that the president would take off his uniform before the elections, he said ''Uniform is not an issue for Benazir or someone else to decide.'' He said he believed that many issues were still to be resolved and Ms Bhutto's claims were not correct. The points put forward by the PPP chairperson, he claimed, were being discussed.

UNI