ISLAMABAD, NOV 20, SPA -- President General Pervez Musharraf says media will certainly be allowed to cover the upcoming parliamentary elections. Certainly we will allow media to cover the elections , the president said in an interview with the American Fox News channel. Musharraf however urging the media to follow the code of conduct said, the code of conduct does not mean that they should not criticize. Not at all. I strongly believe in the independence of media. But yes indeed I believe in some kind of responsibility also. There was hardly a code of conduct, which was being followed by the media. I have no problem. Criticize me or the government , the president said, but the government wants media not to carry out defamation, distortion of truth, vulgarity and humiliation, especially of the country s esteemed organizations and institutions. He referred to the scenes of terrorist incidents, blood and body parts shown by the channels and said, We do not want them to demoralize the nation. The president said there was no problem with most of the channels, adding, the problem is with the very few channels and they must accept the code of conduct. Whosoever is accepting the code of conduct is coming back and they are transmitting. To a question, Musharraf reaffirmed his pledge to take oath of office for next term as civilian. He said once the Supreme Court passes judgment on validity of the presidential election - held last month - he is determined to take oath as civilian. I will do it immediately after the judgment. Commenting on international reaction to the proclamation of emergency in the wake of terrorism challenges confronting Pakistan, he strongly defended the government s measures and emphasized that the world must understand the ground realities and not be misled by a few opposition leaders who want to undermine him. Please understand that we are facing a very difficult situation here. There is terrorism which we have never seen before. These are unusual circumstances and we have to take very unusual actions, otherwise we will not be able to meet this challenge. Musharraf was critical of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto saying that she is trying to mislead the world by stating that elections will be postponed or the democratic process will be stopped. He said her statements on Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan s nuclear programme and inviting foreign forces to strike inside Pakistan have gone against public opinion. She is trying to convey to the west and the US that she is the prime minister. Musharraf said unfortunately she keeps changing stances in order to try to extract maximum benefits. Don t adopt an unbalanced approach where Pakistan would suffer, Musharraf advised her. He reiterated that Pakistan s nuclear assets were in safe hands.--MORE www.spa.gov.sa/501578