Pakistani PM:  Elections Will Be Held on Schedule

Despite President Pervez Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan over the weekend, and amid widespread arrests and protests on the domestic front and criticism from the international community, Pakistan will still hold parliamentary elections in January as planned, according to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

BBC:

Attorney-General Malik Abdul Qayyum was more specific.

“It has been decided there will be no delay in the election and by 15 November these assemblies will be dissolved and the election will be held within the next 60 days,” he told Reuters news agency.

Pakistan had come under heavy international pressure after Gen Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Saturday.

“We believe that the best path for Pakistan is to quickly return to a constitutional path and then to hold elections,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during a visit to the Middle East.

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AP photo / Wally Santana

Paramilitary troops patrol the grounds outside the presidential office in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Monday.