Facing protests in Britain demanding his ouster and an embarrassing hostage drama back home, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday vowed to crackdown on terrorists and hold 'free, fair and transparent elections' on February 18.
"These acts are acts of desperation," the Pakistan President said, referring to terrorists taking hostage 250 children in a remote school in the terrorist-infested northwestern area, after an hour-long meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Condemning all forms of extremism and kidnapping, Brown expressed relief that the children were released safely.
Musharraf said that it was by accident the extremists took the children as hostage.
"The extremists were being chased and it was incidental that they entered a school and took the children as hostage. It has been resolved peacefully," he said at a joint press conference with Brown.
As slogan-shouting demonstrators led by former cricketer and opposition leader Imran Khan and his ex-wife Jemima gathered outside 10 Downing Street demanding that Musharraf step down, the Pakistani leader assured Brown that the country 'will have a peaceful transition (to democracy).'
Musharraf said he had a detailed discussion with Brown on bilateral relations, also on the 'democratic transition' that would take place in Pakistan and 'our strong desire to go ahead with the elections which will be fair, free and transparent on February 18.'
Musharraf said he had 'excellent interaction' with the British Prime Minister who has assured Pakistan of 'financial assistance' in the field of education.
Asserting that Pakistan remains a key ally in the fight against terrorism, Brown urged Musharraf to engage 'all political parties for a peaceful, democratic future' for the country.
Musharraf explained in detail steps taken by his government to deal with Al Qaeda and other extremists and claimed that 'these acts are acts of desperation. We have achieved a reasonable success in sealing the border with Afghanistan, raised 3 km border area where there is curfew.'
He claimed that there has been a '42 per cent' reduction in the terrorist activities and that extremists wanted to disrupt the democratic process and divert the military action.
Refuting the charge that the madrassas were acting as a breeding ground for terrorists, Musharraf said only two per cent of students were studying in Islamic seminaries.
"I have studied in St. Patrick's School, a catholic school," he noted.
During the discussions, Musharraf also assured Brown about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons under his regime.
Musharraf's three-day visit to the UK, which concluded on Monday, was marked by a series of demonstrations against him by opposition party activists and human right campaigners.
The Whitehall was heavily barricaded today to keep away the over 400 anti-Musharraf protesters who displayed placards demanding a UN probe into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
Claiming that the election in Pakistan will be rigged, Jemima said, "You cannot have one rule for one dictator and one rule for another. There is no democracy in Pakistan."
The protesters handed over a petition at Downing Street.