Musharraf to shed uniform in 3 years

Musharraf said this here on Sunday while on the first leg of his five-nation tour.

It may be recalled that there had been immense pressure on the "president in uniform" to relinquish the post of army chief. Almost the entire Opposition is united on this issue.

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Announcing that he was contemplating to quit as army chief within three years, he said, "I do agree in principle that I should not be a combination of president and the chief of army staff and sooner or later I have to give up this appointment of chief of army staff," The News reported on Monday.

However, he said that he was required to wear the uniform due to the prevailing sense of instability in his country. "Under these de-stabilised conditions, there is a requirement of my wearing these two hats," he said adding, "Once stability comes and let me judge it myself and I will judge it in all sincerity and honesty I will give up the army chief's role."

On the fears of Talibanisation of Pakistan, the President said, "I sincerely think there is no danger, for the reasons I know the people of Pakistan. The majority people of Pakistan and I are against the Talibanisation or extremism or obscurantism view of Islam."

He further said, "Pakistanis are moderate and they want a progressive and enlightened Islamic state. And we are an Islamic State. We are Muslim, the people are staunch Muslims but they certainly are not for an extremist view of Islam. I am very clear about it. So therefore, whatever is happening in the Frontier province must not alarm the world, it is not the perception of the vast majority of people of Pakistan."