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Musharraf sworn in as Pakistan’s civilian president

By DPA

Islamabad : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was sworn in Thursday for five more years in office, a day after he quit as the army chief, and he vowed to hold elections in January “come hell or high water”.

Taking the oath of office before an assembled civilian and military leadership and foreign dignitaries, Musharraf defended his actions of recent months, including the Nov 3 imposition of emergency rule.

“I think we are coming out of the storm,” Musharraf said. “Never on one occasion did I veer from the path we need to follow for this democratic transition.”

The 64-year-old leader hailed the transfer Wednesday of his powers as chief of the army staff to General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who now heads the nuclear-armed country’s military forces in Musharraf’s place.

“I am sure Pakistan will grow stronger with me as a civilian president and Kayani as military chief,” Musharraf said, describing Kayani as “a man of great professional acumen and quality”.

“I have full faith and trust in him,” he said.

In his speech, Musharraf also charged elements within the judiciary under Iftikhar Chaudhry, the sacked chief justice of the Supreme Court, with trying “to derail the third stage of democratic transition”.

Musharraf removed the independent-minded judge under the state of emergency he imposed – a move his critics said enabled him to dismiss top judges who had appeared intent on overturning Musharraf’s Oct 6 re-election.

General elections of new parliamentary assemblies would go ahead as scheduled Jan 8, the president said, noting the return of exiled opposition leaders Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto to the country: “I personally feel this is good for political reconciliation.”

Musharraf was expected to make a televised address to the nation Thursday night, during which he might announce the lifting of the emergency, which he called ostensibly to combat rising Islamic extremism and terrorism.

The end of the measures envisages the release of thousands of political opponents, lawyers, journalists and others rounded up by police in the past three weeks and would clear the way for the polls.

The president also restated his commitment to the fight against terrorism.

“We have to defeat terrorism. There is no choice,” said Musharraf, who became a key US ally in the region after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on Sep 11, 2001.

The president claimed recent successes against Islamic militants in the Swat Valley who had seized numerous villages in recent weeks.

“We have also broken the back of the spread of terrorism into the settled districts,” he said, in another indication that the emergency would be quickly lifted.

In closing comments, he criticised Western nations for demanding too much too soon from Pakistan.

Musharraf, who came under great pressure from foreign governments for his recent actions, said the developed world had an “unrealistic and maybe impractical obsession” with its form of democracy.

“We want democracy. I’m for democracy. We want human rights. We want civil liberties, but we will do it our way,” he said to loud applause. “… We understand our society, our environment, better than anyone in the West.”

His resignation as army chief fulfilled a demand by the opposition and other countries that he could not continue as both the head of the government and the military. Another demand was the lifting of the state of emergency.