KARACHI, Sept 3: President Pervez Musharraf declared in an unequivocal term on Tuesday that elections would take place on Oct 10, and no outside interference would be allowed in the process.

“I am not going to US to talk on the issue of elections nor would there be any outside interference in the elections,” the president said while addressing a select gathering at the Governor’s House.

Earlier, Gen Musharraf presided over a meeting during which reviewed the pace of multi-billion projects of Karachi through half a dozen presentations which were attended by Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro, Corps Commander Lt-Gen Tariq Waseem Ghazi, City Nazim Naimatullah Khan, and others.

“Let me know the procedure whereby I could prove that elections would be held in October,” he told a questioner.

The president declared that the elections would be held in a transparent manner. There would be absolutely no rigging, no encouragement to any one, he said and added that he had issued instructions to the governors that there should be no interference in the election process.

The ongoing tension with India and Kashmir are some of the important issues that would figure during his visit to the United States and not the elections, the president said and advised the people not to get misled by CNN and BBC.

The general said that for elections he did not need to go to the US. In fact, he pointed out, a meeting with President George Bush was not on the cards until he received an invitation for the meeting to be held during his visit which primarily envisaged an address at the United Nations.

The president said he considered the visit a good opportunity for himself as he would talk about Pakistan and Islam, the misperceptions by which Islam is being compared with terrorism.

And so, he reiterated, “elections will take place 100 per cent and true democracy will set in Pakistan”.

OPTIMISM VOICED: The president said that he was very optimistic about the future of Pakistan and would not allow the country to go down again.

He reiterated that he would not allow the return of those who had mis-governed the country and that he would like the people of Pakistan to use their vote only to elect honest and good people irrespective of their party affiliation.

Referring to the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers, the president pointed out that he had nothing to do with the process, nor had he any contact with the Chief Election Commissioner or returning officers.

He said the election commission was carrying out the entire process without any interference. He said he had not entered into any deal with any one. He said he was not guiding them to either accept the papers of Nawaz Sharif or reject the papers of Benazir Bhutto.

The president said he was not dealing with any one but they (politicians) themselves or through various means were trying to talk to him.

As regards the constitutional amendments, the president said many people said that he was effecting these amendments to usurp power or retain power in his own hand. He made it clear that he neither wanted to have power in his own hands nor was he trying to do so.

He recalled the days when prime ministers used to have all the powers in their hands. He cited the example of one prime minister who during one and a half years removed one president, one chief justice and one COAS and was about to remove a second COAS.

Secondly, he pointed out, presidents in the past used to act impulsively and overused their authority. A prime minister was thrown out unnecessarily only because the president had the power under Article 58(2)B. There had been martial law in the country and military takeover which should not have occurred, he remarked.

The National Security Council, he said, was conceived to work as an organized body to decide about the dismissal of a government.

“We are not carrying out these amendments at our own, but we have been given the right by the Supreme Court,” he said.

AGENDA: The president said that his agenda for the forthcoming visit to US would be very important one.

“Whatever is happening around Pakistan is critical to the whole world and that constitutes an important agenda on which I am going to speak during the visit,” the president said during a brief chat with reporters at the Governor’s House.

In reply to a question, he said as far as the US policy was concerned they had never asked Pakistani authorities that they wanted to come here for launching an operation against Al Qaeda fugitives. He said he was in contact with US Secretary of State Colin Powell every second or third day and the secretary had never asked him to allow their forces to operate in Pakistan.

Asked about the efforts for a solution of the Kashmir issue, President Musharraf said he wanted a solution of the issue, but it cannot be resolved one-sided. For the time being, he added, there was no possible meeting with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during his visit to United Nations.

PRESSURE DENIED: The president said there had been no pressure of any sort on him from the United States.

He said many people had expressed fears and doubts with regard to the US forces but he wanted to say that there had been no pressure on him.

He described as incorrect a news report that US forces wanted to carry out operation inside Pakistan.—APP