Musharraf to leave as army chief

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said Wednesday that President Pervez Musharraf had agreed to step down as army chief in a deal that could keep him in power and restore her from exile to political leadership here.

In a telephone interview from London, Bhutto told the Associated Press that Musharraf had decided “to listen to the people of Pakistan by taking the decision to take off the uniform” and become solely a civilian leader. She added that it would be up to the president to announce when he would give up his military post, but that she expected it to happen before a presidential election due later this year.

There was no immediate confirmation from Musharraf, a key U.S. ally whose controversial dual role has come under intensified criticism over the past several months.

But earlier in the day, Pakistani Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters that “both sides have agreed on the issue of uniform.” He did not elaborate on what the accord entailed, saying instead that an announcement by Musharraf would come soon.

Bhutto, who went into self-imposed exile nearly a decade ago, and Musharraf, a general who took power seven years ago in a bloodless coup, have been negotiating quietly for months on a possible power-sharing agreement. In a separate interview with Pakistan’s private Aaj television channel, Bhutto said that a deal was close to being finalized.

Any deal would probably allow the embattled Musharraf to hang on to the presidency and Bhutto to become prime minister for a third time and outstanding corruption charges against her to be dropped.

The most publicly contentious issue has been whether Musharraf can continue as both president and army chief. Aside from Bhutto’s insistence that he pack away his uniform, popular discontent has swelled over the president’s military role.

His suspension earlier this year of the chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court helped crystallize the opposition. Many Pakistanis believe that the judge, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was sidelined for being too independent-minded. After outbreaks of violent anti-Musharraf protest by lawyers and other groups, Chaudhry was reinstated last month, leading to speculation that an emboldened high court would find Musharraf’s dual role illegal under Pakistan’s constitution.

The court put Musharraf under further pressure last week when it ruled that Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister whom Musharraf ousted from power, could return to Pakistan from exile.