JACOBABAD, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said Friday he would convene the country's new parliament within ten days and vowed his full support to the incoming coalition government.
Speaking at the opening of water-supply project in southern Sindh province, Musharraf said the international community recognised that he had fulfilled his pledge to hold free and fair elections.
"The national and provincial assemblies sessions will be called in a week or one and half weeks. There will be no hurdle to this," state-run Pakistan television showed him as saying.
"I promise if peace is maintained, I will fully support the new coalition governments," Musharraf said, without elaborating.
Musharraf said that moderate forces had triumphed in the elections.
The election winning Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) are demanding the parliament and four provincial assemblies are convened immediately to speed up transfer of power to elected representatives.
Musharraf has repeatedly said since the February polls, which saw his political allies suffering heavy defeats, that he was ready to work with the new government.
PML-N, the second largest party in the parliament after the PPP, has continued to demand his resignation and hint at a possible move to impeach the embattled president.
"All political parties should demonstrate prudence and focus on governance and this is possible only if all of them demonstrate peace," Musharraf said.
The new federal and provincial governments should sustain the process of development and fight the scourge of extremism and terrorism, he said.
Pakistan has been combating an Islamist insurgency led by Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters since Musharraf joined the US-led "war on terror" in 2001.
The violence has soared recently. Around 600 people have died since the start of this year in suicide attacks, roadside bombings and clashes, mostly in northwestern Pakistan on the Afghan border.
With Washington and other allies pressing for stability in Pakistan, the PPP party has not yet indicated whether it is ready for a full showdown with Musharraf.
The coalition is expected to get support of some independent MPs to secure the two-thirds majority with which it could theoretically launch impeachment proceedings against Musharraf.
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