LONDON, Jan 8: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for holding fair and free elections in Pakistan and said these were essential for bringing stability and building strong institutions in the country.

“It is very important that the elections in Pakistan are free and fair and that everything is done to show the international community that all the barriers and obstacles which existed few weeks ago are removed,” he told his first news conference of the New Year at his Downing Street office on Tuesday.

Brown appreciated the steps taken by President Pervez Musharraf, saying that he has doffed his military uniform, lifted the state of emergency, released a large number of prisoners and eased restrictions on media and made arrangements for the parliamentary elections to go ahead.

The prime minister however said these elections will have to be properly monitored if these are to be considered valid by the international community and they got to be held in free and fair way and that requires all actions to be taken so that there is neither intimidation nor censorship and all political prisoners not released so far are no longer imprisoned.

He condemned the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and said it was tragic that the international community lost her along with other innocent people in Rawalpindi.

Brown said there were still controversies over what happened and the circumstances of her death and this was why he had asked the London Metropolitan Police to assist the Pakistani authorities in their investigations.—APP