(Press Release)
ENGLISH RENDERING OF THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON 2^ND JANUARY, 2008
Following is English rendering of President Pervez Musharraf’s address to the Nation on January 2, 2008

My Pakistani Borthers and Sisters,

Asalam-o-Alaikum!

The nation has faced a great tragedy. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has been martyred by the terrorists. I have condoled with her husband Asif Zardari, her sister Sanam Bhutto as well as her children. Once again, I offer my condolences to the bereaved family and pray to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in eternal peace.

The situation continued to deteriorate since her martyrdom. Conspiracy theories were hatched, allegations and counter allegations were made. Unfortunately, a situation of confusion and uncertainty was created which usually happens in Pakistan in such circumstances. This uncertainty has engulfed the whole country. Therefore, I felt it was imperative to address the nation and place the facts before it. I fully realize the anger, the grief and sorrow which prevails in the ranks of People’s Party particularly among my Sindhi brothers and sisters. I would like to state here that I am equally grieved.  I value yours and the whole nation’s sentiments. However, it is regrettable to note that at a time when the whole nation and specially the People’s Party was rightfully expressing their grief and anger, many gangsters and goons and some political elements exploited the situation and resorted to loot, plunder and devastation. This act caused unbearable losses to the people and the country. The daily wage workers and the poor people could not reach the place of their work and obviously, they have suffered a lot of trouble. The subversive elements burnt so many petrol pumps that the remaining ones were forced to be closed by their owners out of fear. Resultantly, all the busses, trucks, vehicles and taxis remained off the roads. Owing to the fear and non-availability of fuel, the petrol pumps remained shut. Similarly, Railways suffered huge losses; engines and bogies were burnt and even the railway tracks were dismantled at some places. The whole railway system was rendered non-operational. The trains and the passengers were stranded at various stations. We are making arrangements for their onward journey to their respective destinations. Under such a situation, doctors and nurses could not attend hospitals. Therefore, those who were sick and needed immediate medical attention suffered. Even the Edhi Centres of Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi were also attacked and ransacked. This is very much regrettable. Many houses and shops were burnt down.  Shops, particularly the jewelery and ammunition shops were targeted. In the first place, shops were attacked, looted and then set ablaze. The banks were ransacked and put on fire. Apart from these incidents, some prisoners were let escape by attacking the prisons. Jails were broken which is particularly regrettable as the hundreds of escaped prisoners might be creating law and order situation in the country. Moreover, the election offices set up by the Election Commission, the polling stations and the equipment put up there were all destroyed. It put the Election Commission to confront a troublesome situation. I am told that some miscreants and subversive elements loaded with machine guns and rocket launchers have been roaming around the city roads. This occurred mostly in Sindh. The unfortunate aspect of the whole episode is that the political elements have played their “role” which is intolerable and deplorable. The businesses of those people have been targeted who were opposed to them. On the other hand, the businesses of their supporters have been spared. The total loss is being assessed and it is feared that the losses may run to the tune of over a hundred billion of rupees. We have deployed the Rangers and the Army for the protection of life and property. This deployment, in my view, should continue till elections rather  even after the elections, for we shall not allow any one to disturb peace and law and order, and anyone who tries to do so till elections or beyond the elections shall be dealt with sternly. I have asked the Prime Minister to work out a compensation package for those who suffered financial and monetary losses so that the government may share their burden. The next issue which I want to address is the martyrdom of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto: how she was martyred, who did it, and secondly, I want to have an  in-depth information of this incident and also wish to share this with the whole nation as it is imperative to resolve the confusion.

The progress we have made during the last seven/eight years including the developmen projects initiated in Sindh specially in rural areas, at grass root level, have, to a greater extent been destroyed during these two days. My brothers and sisters! Such a situation cannot be tolerated; we have to strictly deal with it and bring it to the end. It necessitates immediate action. The first step that I have taken is that I have asked the Prime Minister to constitute a Commission to evaluate the loss and identify the elements who inflicted losses and caused destruction. Here I also urge the media to visit Sindh and make estimates of the extent and nature of destruction in Sindh at the local level. I have come to know that unbelievable damage has been caused in Sindh. I have also asked the Prime Minister to hold those officials accountable particularly the senior ones who displayed negligence and failed to take immediate action against the culprits. Thirdly, FIRs and cases should be registered against the plunderers and the looters. Fourthly, the prisoners who have escaped from jails should be apprehended and sent to the prisons again. Lastly, all individuals, groups and elements displaying weapons of any kind should be arrested. We have also deployed the Rangers and the Army for the protection of life and property.

I request all the people and the media including the foreign media not to further confound this confusion.

Brothers & Sisters!

I would like to say that since day one of the incident, a lot of footage, technical evidence and eye-witness accounts of the incident are coming forth. The fresh evidences necessitate expert analysis. Therefore, we have decided to request an investigation team of Scotland Yard from the U.K. And I am grateful to Prime Minister Gordon Brown for accepting my request. God willing, this investigation team will reach Pakistan very soon and help us in the probe. This team will fill in the gaps in our technical expertise and forensics and I hope that the investigation will be carried out successfully with the help of Scotland Yard which will remove all doubts and misgivings.

My Brothers and Sisters!

The third issue which I would like to address and share with you is the election date. The election date is very important and all kinds of views are being expressed. Whereas it is the task of the Election Commission to decide, it has been my personal desire to hold elections on January 8 without any delay. As I said, it is the responsibility of the Election Commission which has suffered so much in Sindh resulting in disruption of election process and made it impossible to hold elections on January 8. Therefore, the new date announced by the Election Commission is more appropriate and suitable.

My Brothers and Sisters, I want to reiterate that destruction and losses caused to the offices, rail, transport and the logistic systems as well as the law and order situation had impelled towards the postponement of the elections. The decision taken by the Election Commission is timely and appropriate. We have been assuring time and again that the elections would be held in a fair and transparent manner.  But I have added another essential word that free, fair, transparent and “peaceful” elections would be held. By the grace of Allah Almighty, we would translate it into reality and we would do it. Earlier, it was my intention to avoid deployment of the Army because all sorts of accusations were being hurled at the Army. I would not accept it and would instead like to keep the Army out of these allegations. As I stated, the law and order situation and the destruction that took place in Sindh badly required the services of the Rangers and the Army which have already been deployed in Sindh and the entire country to maintain law and order and ensure holding of elections in a peaceful manner. These forces would be used before and even after the elections so as to strictly deal with such elements who disturb law and order. No agitation or riots would be allowed. It is my commitment to the nation. If there are any miscreants having bad intentions, they should refrain from such activities. Because, the Rangers and the law-enforcing agencies, the police and the Army would strictly deal with them. I appeal to all Pakistani brothers and sisters to help in maintaining law and order in each province and discourage  such elements who create law and order situation. This is the time for reconciliation and not confrontation. I urge the political parties to comprehend the gravity of the situation. It is imperative to rise above personal and political interests and realize that Pakistan comes first. Please do not aggravate the already difficult and tense situation.

My brothers and sisters from people party and especially my brothers and sisters from Sindh!

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s mission was to promote democracy and struggle against terrorism. I want to assure you that my mission is exactly the same. I want to promote democracy and eliminate terrorism and God willing, my mission would continue. It is my conviction that Pakistan’s survival and development lies in this mission. God willing, a constitutional and democratic government will be formed after the elections. I am of the firm belief that the next democratic government would lead Pakistan on to the road of progress and prosperity. But we have to fight against terrorism and extremism as one nation with full force. I understand, if we failed to defeat terrorism, the future of Pakistan would be bleak. I appeal to the people and the media to encourage and support the government, the Army and other law enforcing agencies including the Frontier Corps, the Frontier Constabulary and the Levies in their efforts against the war on terror. The support of the whole nation to the security forces would enable them to combat and defeat extremism and terrorism. As far as terrorism is concerned, I want to point out two individuals namely Baitullah Mehsud of South Waziristan and Fazlulullah of Swat. They should be exposed by the media and the nation should launch a campaign against them. Their terrorism must be exposed because they are responsible for suicide bombing and losses to the innocent people. Instead of heroise them by giving space in the media, their lies should be exposed because the people are unable to differentiate between their lies and the reality and they start believing in their lies.

I appeal to the media to expose these people and launch a campaign against them. It will encourage the law enforcing agencies. We need to hit the root cause of terrorism. Because until and unless we reach the masterminds who recruit and indoctrinate suicide bombers, we cannot rid ourselves of this scourge.  In this fight, the whole nation should get united and support the Army and the law-enforcement agencies. This alone ensures Pakistan’s solidarity, prosperity and development.

These are the people who have twice attacked Mr. Sherpao. The last attempt was made by them on the Eid day. They attacked at the time of Eid prayer and about 55 to 60 innocent people were martyred. They also attacked a school bus in Kamra and martyred innocent children. They are also responsible for the martyrdom of Air Force personnel at Sargodha and attacking the ISI employees twice. I am sure the same people have martyred Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

My Pakistani brothers and sisters! I pray that Allah  Almighty may guide us to the right path and He be  the  protector of Pakistan and all of us.

Long live Pakistan.

President Pervez Musharraf’s address to the nation on November 29, 2007.
(In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful)
My dear countrymen, brothers and sisters,

I am extremely happy that I have taken oath as a civilian President. The promise of complete democracy that I had made with the nation stands fulfilled today. Eight years ago we had taken stock of our failure to establish democracy and had made a determination to restore democracy in three phases. The first phase was spread over three years, from 1999 to 2002.  During this period our first priority was to confront the economic crisis and pull Pakistan out of it. In these three years we ran government under a centralized authority and I retained four positions i.e. I was President, the Chief Executive, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of Staff of the Army. I am proud of our performance during this period as we were able to pull the country out of economic crisis and now it is economically very strong and the development activities are progressing with full vigour. During this period, in 2001 we established the system of local government by holding elections.  The second phase started from 2002 and ended in 2007. During this phase democracy was restored in full by first empowering the people through the local government set-up investing them with financial, administrative and political authority and making them autonomous to enable them to undertake development of their district by providing them the required resources.

We empowered women by allocating fixed seats for them and also allowed them to contest on general seats against men. In this way there are nearly 30 per cent women representatives in the local government. The women have fixed seats and joint seats and in the dissolved National Assembly they had 22 per cent seats. Apart from that we empowered the minorities by allocating reserved seats and they enjoyed double advantage. We empowered the youth as we reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 years. That is how we established real democracy and held elections to the Senate, National Assembly and provincial assemblies. So an elected parliament and elected government came into being. We gave freedom to the media and decided to open private television channels. Now you see dozens of private television channels operating alongside PTV.

During these five years I retained dual position of President and Army Chief that enabled me to effectively handle the supervisory role. I was overlooking the governments at the federal level as well as in the provinces so that wherever required I could render a helping hand.  The third phase is now in progress in which Presidential elections were to be held followed by tackling the uniform issue and holding general elections. I was fully determined and was declaring since three months that I shall act in accordance with the Constitution. The Presidential Elections were to be held between 15^th September and 15^th October. The uniform had to be retained till 15^th November and General Elections were scheduled within two months of the completion of the Assemblies’ tenure.  I was determined to implement this programme but unfortunately a conspiracy was hatched to undo all this and derail the country. That is what I felt. I feel sorry that it was conspired to impede the legal and constitutional process under which the parliament had elected me as President with 57 per cent votes. When on the one hand impediments were being created in the way of the sovereignty of the Parliament on the other terrorism was on the rise and from FATA a new spate of terrorism was entering the settled areas of NWFP, especially Swat and some areas of Southern districts. We had to check that onslaught. It was also observed that apart from the NWFP, suicide attacks were launched all over Pakistan which took a heavy toll of life. When all this was happening I am constrained to point out with a heavy heart that some elements in the media fanned that fire. To me the situation was posing a grave danger to the security and integrity of the country.

Efforts were being made to hinder sovereignty of the Parliament and spread political uncertainty. Terrorism was being unleashed with deadly perils and some elements in the media were heightening it which was detrimental to the stability and integrity of the country.  To cope with the grave situation it had become absolutely essential to take an emergent action as half measures could not yield any result.

In these circumstances I held in-depth consultations with Government functionaries, all politicians, businessmen, industrialists and military commanders and finally under absolute compulsion decided to impose emergency. This decision was taken by me in keeping before me the motto “Pakistan First” as I was seeing with my own eyes that whatever we had built was facing the danger of demolition. I was also sensing that the economic edifice which we had built with such hard labour was tumbling down.

I say with pride and a sense of elation that due to the steps we took the country is back on the path of democracy. It had been derailed but it has been again put on the rails. My election had been declared legal and I have taken oath as President. Election date has been fixed as January 8, 2008. Exactly in accordance with my promise I have retired from the rank of Chief of Army Staff and General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani has been invested with this responsibility. I consider him an officer and commander who possess the required professional attainment. I shall always pray for his success. I take pride in saying that I have relinquished this office after 46 years of service including nine years as Army Chief.  Whatever I am is due to Almighty Allah’s kindness, the good wishes of the people of Pakistan and Pakistan’s Armed Forces. This Army is the protector of Pakistan’s integrity. I am proud of this Army.

My brothers and sisters! The emergency has not only preserved democracy but has helped successfully fight terrorism. Due to the kindness of Allah military operation in Swat is continuing successfully and terrorists’ back has been broken. I am confident that complete peace will return to that disturbed area. At this moment I thank the people of Swat and Mingora and also convey to them the gratitude of Pakistan Armed Forces for their willing cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

Now these are things of the past that democracy was being derailed under a conspiracy and how we succeeded in putting it back on the rails. Let us now think of the future. As I had said earlier, for the country’s future, national consensus, political reconciliation and good governance are indispensable. If we wish to maintain the continuity of rising Pakistan, that challenge has to be understood through national consensus and met through political reconciliation and with good governance we will have to take the country’s economy to great heights. That is the only way that the country can progress and the journey to prosperity maintained.

It is in this context that Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have returned and level-playing field has been provided to the Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the democratic process is going on. Now it is the responsibility of these two parties as well as all other political parties to fully participate in the elections. As I see the situation has taken a turn for the better. The democratic system is functioning as per the programme terrorism has been controlled to a great extent. I wish to make an announcement. It is my firm opinion to lift emergency on 16^th December. PCO would be withdrawn and elections would be held in a fair and transparent manner under the Constitution. On this occasion I wish to express the hope that any destabilization of the democratic process or any impediments in its way would not be allowed. God willing (Inshaullah) elections will be held on January 8 as per the Constitution. Please do not create hurdles in this respect. I would like to ask the elements who are talking of boycott to leave such talk and instead go for the election campaign and take full part in the elections.

My brothers and sisters! At this moment I wish to pay my tributes to Ex-Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, his cabinet and all-Ex-Chief Ministers and their cabinets. I am grateful to them for running the government for five years in difficult circumstances and keeping Pakistan on the path of progress. I thank them from the depths of my heart. In the end, my brothers and sisters! I wish to tell the whole nation and the people very sincerely that whatever I have done so far and whatever I shall do in future will be in consonance with the principle of “Pakistan before everything else”. That is my promise with you which I will always fulfill. Almighty Allah may help you and grant you success and keep you in his protection. Pakistan “Painda Bad”

President Pervez Musharraf’s address to the nation on July 12, 2007

“My dear Pakistani brothers and sisters,

Today I am addressing you at a time when Pakistan is facing an important situation. The Jamia Hafsa operation came to its end. The Lal Mosque, Jamia Hafsa and the forced occupation of Children Library has been freed from the control of terrorists.

I appreciated all law enforcement agencies including police, Rangers and armed forces for proving their professional excellence during operation, and pay tribute in particular to Special Services Group (SSG) and Anti-Terrorists Force.

The nation and I feel proud of them who sacrificed their lives for the country, and [of them] 10 were martyred while 33 others injured.

I pray Allah Almighty for bestowing all Shaheeds a place in Jannat and also pray for the soon recovery of injured people. The tragic incident also claimed the lives of some innocent citizens. I also pray for their families to bear this loss with equanimity.

I am greatly thankful to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain particularly and the ministers for interior, information and broadcasting, religious affairs and women development, Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi and his wife Bilquis Edhi, all religious scholars and Wafaqul Madaris who tried their level best to convince terrorists for laying down weapons so as to resolve the matter peacefully.

I am also thankful to the residents of Sector G-6 who suffered hardships due to curfew. I realize the trouble they faced and apologize for this. But I must say that the step was inevitable due to security reasons.

My brothers and sisters,

Today, despite the success, it is not the moment to celebrate. This is a day to mourn and to ponder over the situation and re-evaluate the deeds which led to such circumstances.

The grief is because we did not conquer against any enemy; rather it was an action against our own people who had strayed from the righteous path and followed terrorism and extremism.

It is the time to think what we, as Pakistanis, want to do with ourselves, with our country and the religion.

Islamic beliefs and values preach to honour humanity. Life is a precious gift of Allah, and He is the only one who bestows and takes back life.

In Islam, the killing of one human being is equivalent to the massacre of entire humanity. So what kind of Islam the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa were propagating?

The Lal Masjid administration was using minor children as shield and was deceiving them in the garb of teaching Islamic education.

The administration transformed Madressah into a warfare fortress and also provided shelter to terrorists. There used to be present more than five thousand men and women at a time.

They had formed Lal Masjid’s baton-wielding women brigade. The men were armed with weapons. They forcefully occupied Children Library, and destroyed the nearby shops, held policemen hostage and snatched their weapons. They damaged official buildings, set them on

fire, and even kept on looking the national flag burning at the buildings. They did not let fire brigade perform its duties and killed a soldier of Rangers.

The worst example is that seven nationals of our friendly country China were abducted. This shameful incident happened to the people who belonged to our best friend, who always supported us, stood by us in troubled times and also helped us in economic, trades and defence fields. To held hostage Chinese nationals was very shameful act. The Chinese President called me on telephone and asked to ensure security of its citizens. So, in my mind this is extremely shameful for our country and citizens. They have security all over the world and if their citizens are not secure in a country, for which they did a lot and still doing, is so regrettable for us. Overall, the terrorists challenged the government’s writ as a whole.

My dear brothers and sisters,

Due to these incidents, the government and I came under-pressure from all Pakistanis to take action. Even we were being alleged that the government was involved with the extremists and is deceiving the world, country and the people, and playing tricks and political games with them.

The reality is that if we were to kill them, we would have on the first day and the government is strong by the grace of Allah to take action the first day. But this could have led to a loss of hundreds and thousands lives, so we did not want to do this.

The wisdom was not to use force. The question was not of killing the people but to save them, especially the women and children. So the government’s policy despite allegations and pressure based on resolving the issue through negotiations and release women and children.

The policy proved beneficial which we followed for last six months. I feel proud to say that 2000 persons including men, women and children could come out (of Madressah) and after July 3, 1300 children were freed.

This was a success due to our policy, and 3300 persons were freed due to our patience and tolerance.

Till the last day and last minute, we continued efforts to lay down weapons. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi, all ministers and religious scholars made efforts for about ten hours and late night so that these extremists follow wisdom and lay down weapons so that they do not suffer loss.

My brothers and sisters,

I want to tell you that why we started the operation belatedly. Operation should have been started after midnight, but we continued to delay it, gave chances to resolve the issue through dialogue. When the operation commenced at 3.45 in the morning, the security forces took risk because they required darkness of night so as to avoid the loss of lives. Despite this, the security forces took risk and the operation started in day light, which caused loss of lives. After the operation started, it was carried out in a way that the action should not be done in an aggressive manner and the forces had been told to make full efforts to save the lives of maximum number of women and children.

My brothers and sisters,

Now you have the results of the operation before you. Ten army men were martyred, while 33 were injured and almost all of them are commandos of Anti-Terrorist Force. That is why I salute them and alongwith them some 75 extremists were killed. I am sad on this because no one feels happy over the death or killing of a human being. And nor do I feel happy on this. But I and the government of Pakistan tried best and made every effort to find a solution to this tragedy. We arranged their contact and parleys with Council of Islamic Ideology and

Wafaqul Madaris, even invited Imam-e-Kaaba, so that he could convince them, but in vain. Therefore I feel very sad for the loss of human lives, but it had become inevitable for Pakistan.

Why this process of talks failed? A lot is being said on this; all types of televised discussions are also going on air. I do not want to go into detail. But I want to tell that this process failed because the first demand of Rasheed Ghazi was to provide him a safe passage, which meant that there should be no trial of him, and the second was that he and his companions get general amnesty.

And (they demanded) this general amnesty should be from the time when the Children’s Library was occupied six months ago and whatever happened afterwards - our people were killed and martyred. First a soldier from Rangers was martyred, then Col. Haroon was martyred, government buildings were set on fire, people were kidnapped, police personnel were made hostages, weapons were snatched - (The demanded ) all this should be pardoned. And later they demanded that safe passage should also be given to the foreigners. How could the government accede to all these demands. How could the government take this dictation. Therefore the negotiations failed and the operation started.

My brothers and sisters,

Now the question is what has to be done in future. By this action I want to tell clearly that extremism and terrorism have not been eliminated from Pakistan. But this should be clear that we are firmly committed to eradicate terrorism and extremism from the country. We have to eradicate terrorism and extremism from every province and from every nook and corner. And I have firm belief that through our resolve, we will wipe out terrorism and extremism from every part of Pakistan. We also know that the extremists who were in Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa had contacts with people in some areas of NWFP and FATA. Therefore the federal government will fully support, help and coordinate with the provincial government to tackle this. And to provide this help, new recruitment will be made in all law enforcing agencies, NWFP police, Khasadars, Levies, Frontier Corps and Frontier Constabulary. Their numbers will be increased and they will provided with best weapons after their reorganization and better training. They will also be provided tanks and guns, which the army has already provided them.

The army will assist the training and re-structuring of these organizations in six months and wherever they would require help in other fields, the army will fully provide assistance to them.

My brothers and sisters,

We have the determination that we will not allow in future any other mosque or Madressah to be used illegally as Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa. I know that large majority of Pakistani population is moderate and now they are perturbed. They are concerned about what is happening to them and Pakistan as well. I appeal to all moderate people to come forward and join hands with the government in changing the mindsets of these misguided people.

I am addressing all the madaris and Wafaqul Madaris and want to tell them that as far as the madaris are concerned, I think no other person in the past argued so well in their favour in the world, in the United Nations and in the West. I told them that madaris are best non-governmental organizations. I removed misperceptions about the madaris and changed their mindsets about them. I changed their mind to the extent that they wanted to provide resources to improve the standard of the madaris. We had formulated a Madressah Strategy in coordination with the Wafaqul Madaris to bring poor children of madaris into the mainstream enabling them not only to play their role in the society but also contribute in the development of Pakistan.

I had such plan about the madaris and I will have. But, unfortunately, what was happening in the Jamia Hafsa, I have watched on television. There was a battle there and the weapons used

there dashed my intentions to the ground. We will continue to put in our efforts but there was a huge loss.

I appeal to all those who are operating madaris especially Ulema of Wafaqul Madaris to teach true Islamic values to their students, purge of violence and hate of their minds and also teach them worldly knowledge.

In my view Wafaqul Madaris will have to play a pro-active role in coordination with the government and their role will be to identify those madaris where extremism and militancy is being taught. I will appeal to you to prevent such practices and it was your suggestion and you should coordinate with the government in this respect.

This is all I had to share with you. I pray that may Almighty Allah protect all Pakistanis and Pakistan from terrorists and extremists.

In the end, I pray that may Allah Almighty always protect our country, guide us and enable us to stand fast in every difficult time and there is always progress and prosperity in the country.

May Allah embark us on the path of moderation and protect us from hardships (Ameen). May Allah save us and Pakistan from all difficulties.

Long Live Pakistan.”