Pakistani leader plans to stay in charge of army

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf backed out of a pledge to step down as army chief, slamming the door Wednesday on this key Washington ally’s slow progress toward democracy five years after his bloodless coup.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Musharraf made the decision in the best interest of the nation, but the move was denounced by the opposition as further evidence the general is not genuinely committed to restoring civilian rule.

“The president will keep both the posts. The national situation demands that he keeps the two offices,” Ahmed said.

Pakistan is engaged in a fierce fight against al-Qaida militants, much of it in a rugged no man’s land near Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden and other key terror leaders are believed to be hiding. More than 550 al-Qaida suspects have been arrested here since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, helping win Musharraf billions of dollars in aid from Washington.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher declined to comment on the development except to say the United States “has always supported movement and progress toward democracy in Pakistan.”

Pakistan’s crackdown has led in recent months to several major arrests, including that of a Tanzanian wanted in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa and a Pakistani computer expert whose capture led to terror warnings in the United States and Britain.

When asked why Musharraf was going back on his promise to quit as army chief, Ahmed said: “The situation has changed.”

Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999, said earlier this month he felt most Pakistanis wanted him to retain both positions.

“Ninety-six percent (of people) will say ‘Do not remove (the army uniform),’” he said.

On Wednesday, the opposition accused Musharraf of lying to the nation.

“He is a dictator,” said Sadique al-Farooq, a spokesman for the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted in the coup. “His claim that he is a man of his word who fulfills his promises has proven false. He has violated the solemn pledge he has made with the nation.”

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