Under pressure from all quarters, embattled Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that he will decide on holding of the general elections by November 14.In his first interaction with legislators of the ruling PML-Q and its allies since the imposition of emergency on November 3, Musharraf said he will also decide on the term of the national and provincial assemblies by the same date, media reports said on Thursday.Even though he was committed to holding free, fair and transparent polls, the President said that he could not give a time-frame for the elections, The Nation newspaper quoted officials as saying.Musharraf said that he would not be influenced by US to hold the elections.Wary of an adverse decision by the court, the President, who is also the army chief, said Emergency would not be lifted before Supreme Court decided the on petitions challenging his candidature in the Presidential poll, which might take two to six months, the Dawn newspaper reported.However, he promised that the Emergency would be lifted "as soon as possible".The President made these remarks while addressing the parliamentarians at Prime Minister's House on Wednesday, after a brief session of the National Assembly endorsed the Emergency.The session was boycotted by the opposition while activists of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) held protests outside the parliament before being dispersed by police."I have listened to the opinion of MPs, now we will decide. We want the deviation from the election schedule to be kept as little as possible," Musharraf said.The term of the assemblies ends on November 15, also the date by which Musharraf had earlier promised to doff his military uniform.The Emergency, Musharraf said, was not a "lasting solution to the problems" of Pakistan.He said he was not troubled by the protests of opposition parties, as the people were not with them.The army was "fully united under his command", Musharraf said.During Wednesday’s meeting that lasted over two hours, the parliamentarians were reportedly divided on the issue of setting dates for ending the Emergency and holding the general election or extending the tenure of the National Assembly.Sources were quoted by Dawn as saying that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who had been lobbying for support to extend the tenure of the assembly, failed to win the backing of a majority.The sources also said the camp of PML-Q president Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain had succeeded in convincing Musharraf against postponing the polls, except for a few weeks if necessary.Hussain has already said that the emergency should not last more than three weeks.Musharraf also explained to the parliamentarians his reasons for imposing emergency, citing the judiciary's activism and the breakdown of law and order in the northwestern tribal areas and Swat.He said the leaders of some friendly countries had advised him against imposing Emergency but he took the decision in the national interest.He said that had he paid heed to the messages from Washington he would not have been able to impose Emergency or issue the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO ), the Dawn reported.Musharraf asked the PML-Q and its partners to "remain united and prepare for elections".The federal cabinet, during an informal meeting held on Wednesday, discussed the difficulties the PML has been facing since the imposition of emergency.It decided that there was no need to seek indemnity for the PCO from Parliament as it required a two-third majority.
