ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has given a strong indication that he will seek re-election rliament while still serving as armed forces chief, saying he is inseparable from his uniform, the BBC reported on Tuesday. “Uniform has now become my skin, how could I separate myself from it?” the general told the broadcaster’s Urdu service in an interview.
The military had not entered Pakistani politics of its own will but was invited to tend civil administration, said Musharraf, who is under pressure from the opposition, rights groups and foreign governments to step down as army head before seeking a further five- year term from the current loyal assembly this autumn. The armed forces had consolidated Pakistan but the opposition was now creating negative propaganda against them, said Musharraf, who came to power with the bloodless overthrow of prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999.
In a recent interview with a Pakistani television channel, the president said that if a two-thirds majority of parliament approved his retention of power as army chief, “that is the spirit of democracy and will of the people - and is in accordance with the Constitution.”
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