By IANS
Islamabad : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf Friday said he would make "some important announcement" next week in an address to the nation.
He did not elaborate while addressing the executive session of a media workshop at the National Defence University here.
Musharraf, who has been critical of the Pakistani media, said that "the media is the first defence line of the country and resentments of the past must be ended for a better future."
The media has, in the last few days, speculated about Musharraf announcing early elections, first for his own term in the presidency that ends in November, and then general elections to the National Assembly and four provincial assemblies.
His move would depend upon his assessment of whether he can seek re-election from the present legislatures, or would need to dissolve them and go for a surprise poll.
There has been a legal dispute posed by experts and the opposition parties that the present legislatures have already elected him once in 2002 and cannot be made to vote in the presidential poll again.
The "important announcement" could also pertain to the crisis over his suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, political observers said.
They point to the widely perceived change in the government's stance on Thursday agreeing to the Supreme Court, and not the Supreme Judicial Council, hearing Chaudhry's petition.
The apex court, in the midst of hearing Chaudhry's petition challenging his suspension, has been making observations emphasising the independence of the judiciary and has generally viewed the government's action critically.
Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday, who is heading the 11-judge bench, called the case before him "a crisis that has damaged Pakistan."
When Malik Qayyum, Musharraf's counsel opened arguments on behalf of the government, offering to review the government's line before the court, Ramday asked whether counsel was "joking" and whether the government was taking the proceedings lightly.