Musharraf for keeping uniform for 2 more yrs

The suggestion, revealed by the parliamentary leader of the religious right alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, comes as pressure mounts on General Musharraf to abandon his dual posts.

"A heavyweight government figure last week suggested to the MMA leadership that it should consider giving two years to Musharraf to shed his military uniform," Ahmed told AFP.

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Musharraf's dual role as army chief and unelected president are under fire from the MMA and fellow opposition parties Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Demands that he quit the military and submit to a standard presidential election have brought the seven-month-old parliament -- the first since Musharraf began his three-year military rule -- to a standstill.

The suggestion of a two-year deadline came at a meeting Friday between Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman that was also attended by Ahmed and ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

The fundamentalist JUI is a leading element in the MMA's six-party religious right alliance.

The Islamists had already offered to give Musharraf until August 14, when Pakistan celebrates the 56th anniversary of its creation, to quit the military. They have also pledged to back him in a presidential poll.

The PPP and PML-N, taking a tougher line, are demanding he quit both posts immediately.

The MMA has threatened to mobilise millions of supporters should Musharraf maintain his two posts.

The MMA's Rehman and Ahmed responded to the request to give Musharraf two more years in uniform with a suggestion he step down from the presidency.

"The MMA told government leaders that Musharraf can put a man of his choice into the presidency if he does not want to shed his military uniform," Ahmed said, adding the MMA would back the pro-Musharraf PML-Q's Hussain as president.

Musharraf, the army chief who stole power in military coup in October 1999 and declared himself president in 2001, last year amended the constitution to unilaterally extend his dual tenure for another five years.