ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: Gen Pervez Musharraf will take the oath as President of Pakistan on Saturday, starting his new term of five years following the mandate he got through referendum.

It would be his second oath as president as earlier he had taken the oath in July 2001 before embarking on a visit to India.

Having toppled the PML government headed by Mian Nawaz Sharif on Oct 12, 1999, Gen Musharraf had appointed himself Chief Executive. Later, the Supreme Court validated his coup on the basis of the doctrine of necessity and approved the title of chief executive for him.

The oath-taking ceremony would be held about two hours before the newly-elected members of the National Assembly would be called to take the oath.

The government is of the view that Gen Musharraf was given the mandate for five years by people through the referendum in which an overwhelming majority of voters had voted in his favour “for the survival of the local government system; establishment of democracy; continuation of reforms; end to sectarianism and fundamentalism; and fulfilment of Quaid-i-Azam’s concept of Pakistan”.

However, the Supreme Court had refused to comment whether the election of president through referendum was valid or not by observing: “We cannot anticipate the course of future events”.

On the petition of Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the Supreme Court had refused to pass any judgment on the issue, saying: “We leave the same to be determined at proper forum at the appropriate time”.

With regard to the consequences of referendum, the court had held: “We would not like to go into these questions at this stage and leave the same to be determined at proper forum at the appropriate time”.

The court, however, had held that the referendum order had been issued validly under the Provisional Constitutional Order. The court held that the chief executive/president had not acted under Article 48(6) of the Constitution for holding a referendum but had promulgated the referendum order in pursuance of the Proclamation of Emergency and the PCO No 1 of 1999 and in exercise of all other powers enabling him in that behalf.

APP ADDS: The Chief Justice of Pakistan will administer the oath to Gen Musharraf at a ceremony being held at the Aiwan-i-Sadr at 9:30am, says an official announcement.