Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [Images] has promised to lift the emergency on December 15, a day earlier than he had previously announced, and claimed the upcoming general elections in the country would be "absolutely" free and fair.

"The emergency will be finished on the 15th, I mean every word of it...I give commitments which I always follow and honour," Musharraf said in an interview with CNN.

"I do guarantee that they will be free and fair, yes, absolutely," he asserted.

Asked whether former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto [Images] and Nawaz Sharif would be allowed to run for office, Musharraf insisted it is not his call.

The election commission and procedures are in place "for submitting of petitions against any candidate", he said.

"I am not in charge. I am not the chief justice of Pakistan. I never speak to the Election Commission. I never speak to anybody down the line."

Musharraf also dismissed the fears expressed by opposition parties that the vote could be "rigged", saying this is a clear indication of their preparation for defeat.

"Now when they lose they'll have a good rationale, that it is all rigged, this is all fraud," he said.

"This is what they do always in Pakistan -- the loser always cries. I think they should gracefully participate in the election and then gracefully accept defeat if any one of them gets defeated. We will congratulate anyone who does win."

The President, who had sacked Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and several other judges of the Supreme Court after imposing emergency on November 3, ruled out any chances of Chaudhry returning to the helm.

"No, not at all. He is no more the Chief Justice of Pakistan," Musharraf said to a question.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan is Abdul Hameed Dogar now, and he remains there. And there are judges in the Supreme Court, they are the judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts. Nobody is being allowed to go back," Musharraf said.

While responding to the question regarding the ex-premiers being permitted to run, Musharraf also rebuked the "western" perceptions about a "developing country".

"Unfortunately, the West and the media in the West and a lot of people, they appear to be thinking that in the developing country there is no law, and there is all dictatorship. Somebody at the head just passes orders and things moved like that. There's a system functioning."

"The procedure is that anybody having a complaint against the candidate or nomination papers of anyone, it is the returning officer which sees that, and he accepts or rejects

the papers and then the person can go and appeal in the high court and then he can come and appeal in the Supreme Court. That is the procedure. Where do I feature?...Neither will I allow, nor will I disallow," Musharraf said.

Defending his recent crackdown, Musharraf said people need to understand "what was happening that led us to act".

"The complete executive machinery was in near paralysis. The law enforcement agencies were totally demoralised, and they were not acting because terrorists were being more encouraged than the law enforcers," he said.

"The parliament, the supremacy of the parliament, was totally violated in that they gave me 57 per cent vote and yet they were not allowed to go through with their decision."

He also said the economy had taken "a downturn", and that the environment was helping foster terrorists. The chief justice, Musharraf alleged, failed to understand the nation's needs and politicised the situation.