Musharraf to give up army post after re-election as president

President Gen Pervez Musharraf will step down as army chief and restore civilian rule to Pakistan, but only after he secures re-election as president, a government lawyer said today.

The party of exiled opposition leader Benazir Bhutto declared the plan unconstitutional and undemocratic and threatened to withdraw its MPs from Parliament unless “steps for national reconciliation” are taken.

Today’s announcement by government attorney Sharifuddin Pirzada was the first clear official statement that Musharraf is ready to end direct military rule, eight years after he seized control of the Islamic world’s only declared nuclear power in a coup.

Musharraf plans to win a new five-year term in a vote by all federal and provincial MPs due by October 15, a month before the end of his current term.

However, his popularity and authority have waned after a failed attempt to sack the Supreme Court's top judge and his political foes insist he is ineligible to continue as head of state.

He also faces a wave of violence blamed on Taliban and al Qaida militants which has intensified popular discontent with his alliance with the United States.

Pirzada announced Musharraf’s intentions in the Supreme Court as judges heard petitions challenging his dual role as president and army chief and his eligibility for the presidential vote.

“If elected for the second term as president, Gen Pervez Musharraf shall relinquish charge of the office of the chief of army staff soon after election, but before taking the oath of office of the president of Pakistan for the next term,” Pirzada said.

Mushahid Hussain, secretary-general of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, predicted Musharraf’s decision “will lower the political temperature and it will deprive the opposition of a major contentious issue”.

Musharraf’s military role “had undermined Pakistan’s international image because people said you don’t have full democracy. I think we have moved on,” Hussain said.

However, opponents said they would continue their campaign against Musharraf’s continued rule.

“He is blackmailing. This is a threat from him. He is saying that first you elect me as the president and then I will quit as the army chief,” said Zafar Ali Shah, a leader of the party of Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted as prime minister in the 1999 coup.

Authorities deported Sharif back into exile in Saudi Arabia when he tried to return last week to campaign against Musharraf.

Opposition parties are challenging the legality of Musharraf’s re-election, including a rule change announced Monday by the Election Commission apparently opening the way for the general to seek a new term without resigning from the army first.

Zaffar Abbas, resident editor in Islamabad for the Dawn newspaper, said the general’s decision had sent a message to the Supreme Court he planned to restore civilian rule and was a coded appeal to Bhutto, who plans to make a triumphant return to Pakistan on October 18, for support after parliamentary elections due by January.

For months Musharraf and Bhutto have been discussing a possible power-sharing deal, but talks have stalled amid opposition from hard-liners in the ruling coalition who could be eclipsed if Bhutto's liberal Pakistan People’s Party wins the general election.

Abbas said he believes negotiations between Musharraf’s and Bhutto’s camps would be revived, but Bhutto’s party reacted icily to today’s announcement.

“Gen Musharraf’s decision to get himself re-elected in uniform is both unconstitutional and undemocratic,” party information secretary Sherry Rehman said.

Rehman said the party’s MPs might resign in protest unless the government dropped corruption cases against Bhutto and other politicians and let her run for a third term as prime minister.

“If these steps for national reconciliation are not taken, the Pakistan Peoples Party will consider resigning from the Parliament,” Rehman said.