Gen. Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan used Independence Day (August 14 ) to promise a return to democratic rule next year.
Musharraf said the exact date of the elections will be announced later Tuesday when he addresses local councils, created recently in the first phase of his blueprint for democracy in this South Asian nation.
"I will give a clear roadmap to put in elected governments at the provincial and federal level by October 2002 in accordance with the Supreme Court judgment," Musharraf told a ceremony on the sprawling lawns of the white marble presidential palace.
Musharraf vowed to move the country toward a democratic rule that will last. He also urged an end to sectarian violence that has left scores dead in this mostly Muslim nation.