Hours after lifting the 42-day-old emergency, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [Images] on Saturday night said general elections will be held on January 8 as scheduled and invited foreign observers to monitor the polls to assess their fairness.

Addressing the nation, Musharraf, who doffed his uniform last month, justified imposition of emergency as a "necessary" step to prevent destabilisation of the country and insisted that the desired results had been achieved.

"The elections will be held on January 8," Musharraf said with a promise that these will be "free, fair and transparent" with everyone welcome to participate as per the Election Commission rules.

"I would like to invite any number of observers to see the fairness," he said in a televised address aimed at the domestic audience as well as the international community.

Musharraf, however, said that "agitational politics" would not be allowed as it could vitiate the atmosphere.

He regretted that some parties had decided to boycott the elections for "no reason", apparently referring to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who has initially announced to stay away.

The president also regretted apprehensions expressed by some quarters that the elections could be rigged, saying it was not justified as even campaigning has not begun yet.

"Sensible democratic process will take place," said Musharraf who lifted emergency earlier in the day, succumbing to intense domestic and international pressure.

On the imposition of emergency on November 3, he said he had to take the "tough" decision, which even put his reputation at stake, to "save the country" and bring it back on the path of "real democracy".

He claimed that there was a "well-planned conspiracy to destabilise" the country and a "crisis" situation had erupted because of tension between parliament, judiciary and executive.

"Executive was paralysed. Now, all the three pillars are working well," Musharraf claimed.

Photograph: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images