Pakistan president to quit military if re-elected - lawyer
18/09/2007 13:07 ISLAMABAD, September 18 (RIA Novosti) - Pervez Musharraf is poised to give up his post as army chief if re-elected as Pakistan's president, his chief lawyer said Tuesday.
General Pervez Musharraf, whose presidential term expires November 15, is expected to run for another five years in a vote by provincial and national legislators. Holding both presidential and military posts, he has come under growing pressure to quit the military, his main power source since a bloodless coup in 1999.
"If elected for another term, Musharraf will relinquish the post of the chief of army staff shortly after the elections but before taking his oath of office as president," Sharifuddin Pirzada said.
The statement was made in the Supreme Court, which is considering petitions by opposition parties that are challenging Musharraf's right to hold both posts, and his eligibility for the presidency.
Pakistan's Election Commission, whose chairman was appointed by the president, amended regulations Monday to enable Musharraf to run for elections without "taking off his uniform," a move opposition parties described as unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 and 2005 that Article 63 of the Constitution, which prohibits civil servants and members of the military from running for elected office, could not be applied to Musharraf.
But opposition forces said that if the amendments remained in place, democratic protests would follow, as the new rule could mean an end to already stalled talks between the president and the moderate party of exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on a possible power sharing agreement.
Musharraf's popularity has been in decline since March, when the president tried to fire an independent-minded Supreme Court chief justice, sparking widespread protest rallies. The president's move was later overruled in court.
The presidential elections are to be held no later than mid-October, to be followed by a parliamentary poll due by January.
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