Musharraf Refuses to Give Date for Ending Rule by Decree

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 11 — The Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, refused Sunday to give a date for the end of the de facto martial law that he imposed on the country more than a week ago and suggested that it would continue indefinitely, including during parliamentary elections in early January.

Speaking at a news conference one day after President Bush called him the best president for Pakistan, General Musharraf said the emergency decree he issued on Nov. 3 was justified by the need to fight terrorism and would “ensure absolutely fair and transparent elections.”

Mr. Bush said Saturday that he supported General Musharraf because “we share a common goal” in the fight against Al Qaeda, an endorsement the general appeared to use to his advantage on Sunday as he justified his extrajudicial measures.

“I cannot give a date,” General Musharraf said when asked directly about the lifting of the emergency decree, under which several thousand civilians have been jailed, the nation’s Constitution suspended and the Supreme Court dissolved. “We are in a difficult situation, therefore I cannot give a date.”

“The emergency reinforces the war on terror,” he said.

He also declined to give a date for stepping down as military leader, a move that the United States and other Western countries have requested as a sign of his seriousness about a transition to democracy.

General Musharraf repeatedly stated he had not violated the Pakistan’s Constitution, which he suspended and replaced with a provisional constitutional order drawn up by his aides. At one point he said, “I had to take a drastic measure to save the democratic process.”

The general described his action as a selfless one. “I found myself between a rock and a hard surface,” he said. “I have no egos and no personal ambitions to guard.”

His voice often raised, General Musharraf lectured Pakistani and foreign journalists seated before him, complaining that the West did not understand Pakistan. On the other hand, he said, foreign leaders had called him in the last few days and expressed “understanding” regarding his actions.

General Musharraf’s aides said the general planned to give up his uniform and become a civilian president when the newly formed Supreme Court validates his victory in the Oct. 6 presidential election.

But it was far from clear when this would happen. A new court was formed last week to replace the existing Supreme Court, which had appeared ready to strike down the general’s re-election. The new court appointed by the government has only nine judges, all of them favorably disposed to General Musharraf.

To make a decision on a case, the Supreme Court needs a bench of 11 justices. A lawyer in Islamabad, Athar Minallah, who was a member of General Musharraf’s cabinet, said the government was probably stalling on finding a full complement of judges. Once 11 members are on the bench, the judges would almost certainly validate General Musharraf’s re-election, but that in turn would put some pressure on the general to give up his uniform, Mr. Minallah said.

The new court has not taken up the case of General Musharraf’s re-election. “I don’t know what they have been doing in the last week,” Anwar Mehmood, the information secretary for the government, said of the justices thus far recruited to the court.

There was some speculation among lawyers on Sunday that the government could not find enough justices willing to join what they considered a tainted court.

In another signal that the general was strengthening his grip on power, the government announced Saturday that it had amended an army law so that civilians could be charged and prosecuted before military courts.

The last time Pakistani civilians faced courts-martial was during the 11-year military dictatorship of Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, which ended in 1988.

As General Musharraf spoke, the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrived in the eastern city of Lahore, where she planned to stage what she called a “long march” of more than 300 to the capital, Islamabad, starting Tuesday.

Ms. Bhutto, a two-time prime minister who leads the biggest secular political party in Pakistan, has appealed to the general to end emergency rule.

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