Karachi: President Pervez Musharraf has said Pakistan's general election will be held on January 8 and the army will not be called out during the polls unlike in the past.

"Inshallah, the general election in the country would be held on January 8," he told a farewell dinner for members of the outgoing assembly of Sindh province at the Chief Minister's House here.

He said he would recommend to the Election Commission that the polls should be held on that date. Earlier, in a television interview aired on state-run PTV, Musharraf said unlike in the past, the army would not be called out during the polls and the situation would be handled by police and civil authorities.

"My concern is to have free, fair and transparent elections, with better law and order," he said. Speaking at another function in Karachi, Musharraf also stepped up the attack on opposition parties that have threatened to boycott the general election, saying they were fleeing from the polls as they had realised they could not win.

Though Musharraf did not name anyone, his criticism was apparently aimed at former premier Benazir Bhutto, whose Pakistan People's Party has said it could boycott elections held under the emergency imposed by the military ruler on November 3.

"They have resorted to agitational politics and (are) threatening to boycott the elections just to run away from the elections. But we will go into the elections and I think that (they) all will participate in the forthcoming elections," he said.

Source : PTI