Pervez Musharraf wants Pak polls to held under army's watch

Islamabad, Apr 2: Former Pakistani military dictator and chief of All

Muslim League (APML)

on Monday said that he wanted the upcoming general elections to be held under the supervision of the

.

The retired general, during a brief press conference at his heavily guarded Chak Shahzad farmhouse soon after arriving from Karachi, said that he had always believed that the polls should be held under the army's supervision or else they would not be fair and transparent.

Musharraf, whose bail was recently extended by a Sindhi court, said he had been facing serious threats but still was pleased with the security arrangements made for him by the country's caretaker government. The country will go to the polls on May 11 and it will be the first time in its history that a democratically elected government would hand over power to another democratically elected government.

The APML chief, who had gone to a self-imposed exile in London over four years ago, has recently returned to Pakistan with a plan to contest the national election from the capital. He said he would formally launch political activities from his residence here. He has come to the residence for the first time since its completion.

Musharraf has also submitted his nomination papers for a National Assembly seat from Karachi and said his party would reach a seat-adjustment agreement with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), an outfit with whom he shares a 12-year-old relation. The former president, however, did not clarify if his APML was holding any formal talks with the MQM.

Musharraf, however, denied yet again that he had not returned to Pakistan under any deal and said that he had informed the APML and had returned on his own.

OneIndia News