Special report: Pakistani Situation

    ISLAMABAD, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said that he would lift the state of emergency on Dec. 15 and guarantee free and fair elections next month, local English newspaper The News reported Monday.

    Confirming remarks by Pakistan's attorney general that the emergency would be lifted a day earlier than previously planned, Musharraf said, "the emergency will be finished on the 15th, I mean every word of it."

    "I give commitments which I always follow and honor," he told the CNN's "Late Edition", which was taped on Saturday.

    Asked if former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharifwould be permitted to run as candidates, Musharraf said that it was up to the country's election commission to decide.

    "There is a legal process which will take place and let them follow it," he added.

    When asked to comment on U.S. President George W. Bush's fresh remarks that he would authorize the U.S. troops to go into Pakistan to capture or kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and top leadership in Pakistan, if there was actionable intelligence, Musharraf said, "in Pakistan it is the Pakistani forces that will act ... if we need any kind of assistance, the prerogative must remain with Pakistan."

    He said that whatever intelligence the two countries get on terrorists, they jointly think of what kind of action was possible and whatever assistance Pakistan can get in this regard.

Pakistani opposition fails to reach consensus on boycotting elections

    ISLAMABAD, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- The All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), an alliance comprising around 30 opposition parties in Pakistan, failed to reached a consensus on whether or not to boycott the upcoming general elections after an hours-long meeting on Sunday. Full story

Sharif urges Bhutto to set cut-off date for judges restoration

    ISLAMABAD, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Former Prime Minister and PML-N party leader Nawaz Sharif Friday urged Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto to set a cut-off date for restoration of judges deposed under emergency. Full story