Musharraf seeks 2 more yrs in Army

The Pakistani Government has asked Opposition parties to give President Pervez Musharraf two years to relinquish leadership of the Army, a s...

The Pakistani Government has asked Opposition parties to give President Pervez Musharraf two years to relinquish leadership of the Army, a senior Islamic party MP said. The suggestion, revealed parliamentary leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a member of the prominent Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance of Islamic parties, came amid mounting pressure on 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 said.

Musharraf’s roles 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).

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They have brought the seven month old Parliament — the first since Musharraf’s three year military rule — to a standstill with demands that he quit the military and submit to a standard presidential election.

The suggestion of a two-year deadline was made during meeting Friday between Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JuI) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at which Ahmed was also present.

The fundamentalist JuI is a leading element in the MMA’S six-party religious right alliance. MMA’s Rehman and Ahmed responded to the request to give Musharraf two more years in uniform by saying he should simply quit the presidency.