Pervez: Emergency in Pak’s interest

By OUR PAKISTAN CORRESPONDENT

Islamabad, May 24: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that the "extra constitutional" measures which he adopted on November 3, 2007 were with the intent to save the democracy in the country. On November 3, 2007, President Musharraf had imposed emergency rule in the country and sacked over 60 judges of the superior courts, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. "I am an elected President of the country. Whatever steps I took on November 3 were taken to save the democracy and country," he was quoted as saying by parliamentarians who met him on Friday night. Refuting the allegations of Mr Asif Ali Zardari, President Musharraf said that he keeps the national interest above everything. Talking to Senator Gulzar Ahmed and his sons Senators Waqar and Amar Ahmed Khan at the Presidential Camp Office in Rawalpindi, he said that he stands by his November 3 decisions. Mr Zardari had, in an interview, described President Musharraf as "a relic of the past" who was standing between the people of Pakistan and democracy.

"He clarified that he was an elected and democratic President of the country. Justifying his November 3 steps as constitutional and legal he said all the steps he had taken were in national interest. He said he would not compromise over national interest in future also," one of the senators who met him said.

"The President said he did not believe in politics of confrontation and would soon meet Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to discuss inflation and devaluation of currency," he added.