ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday promised to lift the state of emergency and withdraw the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) on Dec 16.

In a brief address to the nation on the state television and radio, he urged opposition parties for the second time in the day to refrain from boycotting the elections. “I am determined to lift emergency on Dec 16 and withdraw the PCO and hold fair and free elections on Jan 8,” the president said.

The promise to lift the emergency and withdraw the Provisional Constitution Order he had decreed on Nov 3 came about nine hours after the president was sworn in for another five-year term.

Though the president, by announcing the cut-off date for lifting the emergency and withdrawing the PCO, partially accepted one of the major demands of opposition parties and the civil society, he made no mention of their calls for the restoration of the superior judiciary to the pre-November 3 position.

He described his Nov 3 action as “extraordinary measures” needed to meet extraordinary circumstances.

Mr Musharraf termed national reconciliation as the most important ingredient for the continuation of development and economic turnaround achieved in his 8-year rule.

He said by allowing former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to return home he had provided a ‘level-playing’ field to them. “It is the responsibility of all political parties to prepare themselves and take part in the elections,” the president said.

He said he had fulfilled the promise of putting the country on complete democratic rails by hanging up his army uniform and taking oath as a civilian president.

Mr Musharraf, who had a hectic schedule in the day as he spoke at length after taking oath of office, repeated most of points in his address to the nation including the coercion for imposition of emergency, conspiracy to derail democracy and non-recognition of his election by 57 per cent of parliamentary votes.

The president described as complete success the objectives that had been set before the imposition of state of emergency had been met.

The judiciary, he said, had declared him legally elected and the wave of terrorism was subsiding in Swat areas and the administration would hopefully take back control of the whole region soon.