Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf "doubts" he will be able to shed his army uniform by the end of the year in accordance with pledges he made 11 months ago, he told AFP in an exclusive interview.
| Funny, I had no doubts at all on this one ... |
Musharraf, a key US war on terror ally who holds the dual posts of army chief and president, promised on national television last December that he would quit his army post by the end of 2004 and become a civilian president. "Well, I did say that. But I try to see what is the environment, and the environment is at the moment very, very difficult internationally and regionally," he said late Thursday at his official Army House residence.
Musharraf made the pledge after striking a deal last December with powerful Islamist parties, who in return helped ratify in parliament his self-appointed sweeping powers including the right to sack the elected government. Since mid-year Musharraf, who came to power through a bloodless army coup in 1999, has been hinting at revoking his pledge, citing pressures of Pakistan's frontline role in the war on terror, his campaign to wipe out Islamic militants, and the peace process with India. The parliament in October approved a bill allowing him to retain the army chief post, outraging opposition parties and democracy activists campaigning to end Pakistan's rule by generals. However Musharraf has yet to sign off on the bill. "We have set the country on a certain course, internationally, our diplomatic relations, our foreign policy, we have set it on a certain course of fighting terrorism in the region, and we're part of the coalition, we want that to be sustained," he said. "We have set a course on normalisation with India, we want that to be sustained. We have set a course towards bringing a societal reformation in Pakistan, where I believe that the extremists are holding sway. We want to make sure that they are suppressed, and the vast majority moderates are brought up. Now there's a transformation, a renaissance, a societal transformation that we are going through. We want that process to be sustained and that is what is creating the doubts in my mind." The president refrained from giving a date for his final decision. "Well I will leave the verdict until when the time comes."
| "And who knows when that might be?" |
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