Musharraf to quit army 'this week'

 

LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, under pressure to end a state of emergency that critics say he is using to keep his grip on power, is to quit as army chief and take an oath of office for a third presidential term on Thursday.

Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has been under pressure to lift a state of emergency.

The announcement came as former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, ousted but Musharraf in a 1999 coup and banished to Saudi Arabia, returned to the country to register for forthcoming elections, ruling out an alliance with the president.

Presidential spokesman Brig. Gen. Rashid Quershi told CNN that the date for Musharraf's army exit was set Monday after the federal government approved an October parliamentary vote that handed him another five years in power.

The vote had faced a legal challenge because Musharraf's army role was seen as unconstitutional. He has been accused of using the emergency, to purge Pakistan's judiciary of opponents to ensure the vote met with full approval.

Musharraf has repeatedly tried to assuage critics, both home and abroad, by pledging to stand down as army chief, but there were fars that he would renege on the promise as he has done in the past.

Qureshi said Musharraf will make farewell visits to the army, air force and navy headquarters on Tuesday and Wednesday before standing down the next day.

Meanwhile Nawaz Sharif, who spent seven years in abroad after taking exile in return for an amnesty on convictions of corruption and hijacking, warned he would boycott January 8 elections unless the state of emergency was lifted.

Sharif said he will meet with other opposition party leaders in the coming days to discuss forming a unified front against the emergency that has been decried as a tool to crackdown on opponents since it was imposed on November 3.

Musharraf has rejected calls from Western countries, who count the nuclear-armed country as a major ally in efforts to combat terrorism, to end the emergency, saying he needs it to safeguard the upcoming vote from extremists.

Sharif returned to Pakistan on Sunday, ending seven years in exile in. He had tried to return in September, but was deported by Pakistani authorities.

Speaking to CNN before departing Saudi Arabia on Sunday, Sharif said he has refused to discuss a power-sharing agreement with Musharraf despite overtures from the Pakistani leader.

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"Mr. Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, tried to meet me over the last two months ever since I was deported from Pakistan," Sharif said. "I said there is no point in talking because it would not serve any purpose because he is heading into a different direction.

"I am for democracy and I am for the rule of law for the restoration of the constitution."

Pakistani police launched a crackdown on Sharif supporters ahead of his arrival, arresting several hundred at their homes and stopping hundreds more who were traveling to Lahore to welcome him, authorities and eyewitnesses told CNN.

When former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October after eight years in self-imposed exile, her motorcade was targeted in a sucidide attack that killed 136 people. She was unharmed.

Sharif -- who leads the opposition party Pakistan Muslim League -- said he had been talking to Bhutto "trying to find common ground" in uniting the opposition to Musharraf's government.

"We both have been interacting over the past few days, so let's see what comes out of it," Sharif said.

Sharif, like other opposition leaders, was highly critical of Bhutto for discussing a power-sharing government with Musharraf. Those talks ended when Musharraf imposed the emergency.

Sharif said that while his alliance -- the All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM) -- is preparing to participate in the January elections, they will only take part if Musharraf withdraws the emergency declaration and releases opposition members who have been jailed.

"Everything that was done must be reversed and drawn back completely," he said.

"Just withdrawing emergency will not be enough," he said. "You must have a level playing field for free and fair elections." E-mail to a friend

 

 

 

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/26/pakistan.sharif/index.html