Musharraf sworn in as president

General Pervez Musharraf was sworn in as the 10th president of Pakistan at a ceremony in the capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday, thereby replacing former President Rafiq Tarar as the nation’s ceremonial head of state. Effected under a provisional constitutional order, the move was seen by some observers as an attempt to gain greater political credibility before his three-day state visit to India starting on 14 July, during which he will meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The meeting between the two rival nuclear neighbours will be the first in over two years. “We have the support of the people and from the masses,” press secretary to the chief executive, Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, told IRIN. “There was a demand for the ambiguity to be finished,” he said. Musharraf seized power in a bloodless military coup in October 1999, naming himself chief executive and promising general elections by 2002. According to an official announcement on Pakistan’s state-run radio and television earlier in the day, Tarar no longer held the presidential post, and the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, suspended after the coup, had been dissolved. Inasmuch as President Tarar had been elected by the dissolved parliament, he now ceased to be head of state, the announcement said. Asked if this was a democratic way to run a country, Qureshi said: “Under certain circumstances, this decision had to be taken in the national interest.” He reaffirmed Musharraf’s commitment to a return to democratic civilian rule, saying that the last phase of local authority elections - part of the country’s devolution of power programme - was set to be completed this summer. “This is the commitment of the government,” he stated. He discounted reports, however, that the move was designed to bolster the general’s credibility prior to his visit to New Delhi next month. The BBC correspondent in Islamabad, Zaffar Abbas, said the general wanted to engage in the Delhi talks with the title of president in order to bolster his credibility as a negotiator. This underscored what politicians ousted in the coup had been contending, to the effect that Musharraf lacked sufficient legitimacy to reach any type of agreement with India on long-standing regional issues. Abbas said General Musharraf would call parliamentary elections next year, and was expected to negotiate with the new parliament to be elected president for a five-year term. Wednesday’s oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan of the Supreme Court, which has approved the General’s elevation to the presidency. Following the coup, the Supreme Court awarded him the power to amend the constitution, mandating him to return the country to democracy before October 2002. Musharraf is the fourth Pakistani general to assume the post of president since the country gained independence from Great Britain in 1947. In addition to his role as president, he will continue to hold the powerful post of army chief of staff.