Musharraf: Election Will Be Fair, On Time

President Pervez Musharraf pledged Thursday that next week's elections would be free, fair and held on time, after political opponents accused him of planning to rig the vote so he could maintain his grip on power.

He vowed to deal sternly with anyone who tried to disrupt the electoral process.

"Despite all rumors, insinuations and every type of apprehension, these elections will be free, fair, transparent and peaceful," Musharraf told a gathering of intellectuals in the capital, Islamabad.

The retired army general, who seized power in a 1999 coup and went on to become a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, has said Monday's vote for a new Parliament was a crucial step in the country's transition to democratic rule.

His presidency is not being contested but a convincing opposition win - as forecast in recent polls - could leave him vulnerable to impeachment.

That has sparked rumors that the government may seek an excuse to delay the vote or annul the results.

Ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a leading opposition politician, was among those who accused Musharraf of planning to rig the election.

"We stand for democracy. He stands for dictatorship," Sharif said as he traveled in his armor-plated SUV to a raucous campaign rally on Wednesday attended by about 7,000 supporters in the northern town of Kahuta. "In order to survive, he has to rig the election. He knows that."

He accused the government of buying votes and readying 1.8 million postal ballots to be cast in favor of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q party - allegations denied by officials - and warned that if the ruling party won, it would lead to "uncontrollable" unrest.

"We don't know who is going to lose and who is going to win," Musharraf retorted Thursday. "It is wrong. There will be no rigging."

A survey released this week by the U.S. government-funded International Republican Institute said half the Pakistanis polled planned to vote for Bhutto's party, 22 percent backed Sharif's group and only 14 percent favored the ruling PML-Q.

The poll of 3,845 adults was conducted Jan. 19-29 and has a margin of error of plus or minus about 2 percentage points.

Meanwhile, a bomb exploded Thursday near a military convoy in the tribal region of northwest Pakistan, killing three security personnel and wounding another, the army spokesman said.

The explosion came amid a spike in militant-linked violence in the northwest, raising fears for the security of the crucial parliamentary elections.

The blast struck when the convoy was heading from a post along the Afghan border to Khar, the main town of the Bajur tribal area, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.

Three members of the government paramilitary Frontier Corps were killed and another was wounded, he said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

On Tuesday, militants fired 10 rockets at a military base in Bajur "from multiple directions" but there were no reports of injuries or damage, the military said in a statement Wednesday. The military opened fire in response, the statement said.