By Xinhua
Islamabad : Incumbent Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf took oath as a civilian president at a ceremony in Islamabad Thursday, one day after he gave up the post of army chief.
Musharraf took the seat at the center of a hall along with Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar at the ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, or presidential house, which witnessed a gathering of hundreds of VIPs.
“I, Pervez Musharraf, do solemnly swear that … as President of Pakistan, I will discharge my duties, and perform my functions, honestly, to the best of my ability …,” Musharraf said as the chief justice, sitting between two national flags, administered the oath.
The 64-year-old retired general also delivered his first speech as a civilian president shortly after signing the oath papers, saying that the last two or three days had been emotional for him.
“I have given up my military post after 46 years in uniform,” he said, referring to his resignation as chief of army staff on the previous day.
Musharraf joined the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961 at the age of 18 and rose through military ranks to major general in 1991.He became the chief of army staff in 1998, thus taking over the command of the army.
Musharraf was somehow forced to stage a bloodless coup that displaced the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and took the reins of the country as chief executive in October 1999. He first assumed presidency in 2001, which was later confirmed in a 2002 referendum that give him a five-year term.
Musharraf was re-elected in presidential polls on Oct. 6 this year and, as he had previously pledged, resigned as army chief and handed over the military command to succeeding army chief General Ashafaq Parvez Kayani.
“I believe Pakistan will go stronger with me as a civilian president and General Kayani as the chief of army staff,” Musharraf said Thursday.
The officially retired general said he was breaking the convention in pushing for Pakistan’s transition from military to civilian presidency.
“My taking oath as civilian president is a milestone in the transition to democracy,” he told the gathering at the ceremony that included caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro and his cabinet, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, services chiefs, provincial governors and caretaker chief ministers, judges, diplomats, religious personalities and officials.
Musharraf defended the Nov. 3 imposition of state of emergency as an “extraordinary measure” in the interest of the nation, citing militancy in the country’s northwest and worsening law and order situation then.
He noted the economic turnaround of Pakistan in the recent several years and said the nation was “coming out of the storm” and that “the process of derailment of democracy has been checked.”
He further said he personally believes the return of the exiled opposition leaders and former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto was good for political reconciliation in Pakistan, while making it clear that parliamentary elections were to be held as scheduled despite any boycott.
“There is no going back. There is no change,” he said.
The opposition, including Bhutto’s and Sharif’s parties, were still considering the option of boycotting the elections, although they have both allowed party members to follow them to file nomination papers.