EU:Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf has pledged to hold free and fair elections next month and to hand power to whoever wins, writes Jamie Smythin Brussels.
On the first day of a tour of EU capitals, he also robustly defended his decision to impose emergency rule in Pakistan last year and criticised the West's "obsession" with its own democratic customs.
"The democratic transition was put back on the rails by the extraordinary measures I took," Mr Musharraf told MEPs, who questioned his commitment to democracy at a meeting in Brussels yesterday.
"Elections will be held on February 18th and let me assure this house that these elections will be free, fair and transparent and I have added a new word to it, peaceful."
Dismissing tough criticism by MEPs of his handling of the recent political unrest in Pakistan as "misconceptions", he said his government had introduced the essence of democracy to Pakistan.
"I am no Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde. I am the same person that I was in 1999. I have the same views and vision and same thoughts. There is no change in that," said Mr Musharraf, who will also visit Paris, London and the World Economic Forum in Davos on a European tour designed to help rebuild his credibility in the eyes of the West.
His appearance at the foreign affairs committee of the European Parliament follows months of unrest sparked by his dismissal of the chief justice in Pakistan. His decision to impose emergency rule in December was followed by the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, which sparked widespread violence.
Mr Musharraf said it was necessary to remove Pakistan's chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, because he was politicised, inept, corrupt and nepotistic. But he insisted all his actions had been carried out in full accordance with the law in Pakistan.
He said he regarded conspiracy theories alleging that the government or intelligence agencies were involved as "trash".
"Pakistan is not a banana republic - we have never had instances of assassination of opponents," said Mr Musharraf, who said it was up to Scotland Yard detectives to find out who killed Ms Bhutto.
He also dismissed claims of government censorship.
"You don't know our media. You need to come and see the independence of the media, the electronic media and print media. You are getting information from people that are misleading you about the realities," he said. "It is as free as any media in the West."
Mr Musharraf also dismissed fears that his government was not doing enough to combat terrorism. "The people of Pakistan do not want terrorism or extremism in our society. We are fighting against them because it is in Pakistan's interest. So why would we show any lack of interest," he asked.
Earlier he met EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Nato secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.