Pakistan Promises Election

Pakistan answered worldwide criticism of its military rule today by vowing to hold national elections in January, Reuters reports. "We don't want to disrupt the election process. We want a free election," the PM said. President Pervez Musharraf also promised to leave the military “once we correct these pillars in judiciary and the executive and the parliament.” 

Yet protests continued, hundreds of lawyers and politicians remained under arrest, and several judges, including dismissed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, are still under guard. Chaudhry urged protesters "to continue their struggle for the supremacy of the constitution." One lawyer arrested today concurred, saying, "We are not scared of these arrests. We will continue our fight, come what may." (More Pervez Musharraf stories.)