Facing mounting international and domestic pressure, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today announced that elections to national and four provincial assemblies would be held by January 9 but refused to fix a date for lifting emergency.A caretaker government would be in place by November 15 to oversee the poll process after the dissolution of the assemblies on that day, he said nine days after he imposed emergency.Polls would be held simultaneously to the national and four provincial assemblies in the week preceding January 9 and the exact date would be decided by the Election Commission, Musharraf said.Blaming the sacked Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and some other judges for paralysing the Pakistani administration and law enforcement agencies, he ruled out their re-instatement.Without giving any time frame for lifting the emergency, the Pakistani leader said its imposition had reinforced the fight against terror in the North-West Frontier Province, including in Swat.Musharraf also said he would take oath as a "civilian president" when the Supreme Court allowed the Election Commission to formally notify the result of the October 6 presidential election."I hope that happens as soon as possible," he said. The president said he was addressing the press conference to dismiss "aspirations, rumours and speculation about my intentions".(Reporting by Rezaul H Laskar)
