RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Wednesday he expects to step down as army chief by the end of November and begin a new presidential term as a civilian, warning that Pakistan risked chaos if he gave into opposition demands to resign. In an interview with The Associated Press, he accused former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, currently under house arrest, of fueling political turmoil and rejected Western pressure to quickly lift emergency rule, which he indicated was likely to continue through the January elections.
"All those who are blunt enough to tell me to my face what the reality is, all of them think, yes, it will lead the country to chaos if I do not handle the political environment now with me remaining as the president," he said at his army office.
The U.S.-backed general had originally planned to quit as chief of the powerful army by Thursday, when his presidential mandate and the term of the current parliament expire, but he said he was forced to delay the restoration of civilian rule until a court ruling on his recent re-election.
He said the exact timing would depend on the Supreme Court—which he purged of independent-minded judges when he suspended the constitution on Nov. 3—but expected it to happen within this month.
The U.S. and other Western allies have been pushing for him to quit his military post and end the emergency, warning that it could seriously undermine the legitimacy of the elections that are meant to end eight years of direct military rule since he took power in a coup.
Washington wants Musharraf to share power with other moderate forces to combat rising Islamic extremism that the general cited as the justification for seizing emergency powers.