In yet another indication that he may renege on his pledge to step down as army chief by the end of the year, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that 'the vast majority' of his countrymen want him in uniform as they fear that he would be weakened without it.
Musharraf, in an interview with the Washington Post, said that conditions in the country have changed since he promised in a nationwide televised address last December to leave the army as part of a deal with Islamic alliance Muttahida Majlis-e Amal (MMA) that would allow him to remain President through 2007.
The general bristled when asked whether he is reluctant to step down as army chief for fear that in doing so he would effectively create a new rival.
"I know the army follows me," he said. "I know they are with me, and the next chief of army staff will be appointed by me. And he will be a person most loyal to me, obviously, so I don't see the issue of the army being a centre of power or being some kind of competition or a tussle between me and the army."
"The real issue," he said, "is more in the realm of perception of the people of Pakistan. The people of Pakistan think that the strength of a President is much more than the strength of a President out of uniform....I know that the vast majority of the people from all the mail that I've seen and all the telephone calls, do want me in uniform.... If their perceptions change that I have been weakened, maybe it
won't be good for Pakistan."
"It is primarily the security of Pakistan, the internal conditions," he said.
Musharraf, 61, said that whether he stays in uniform has 'nothing to do with democracy'. "It is only the
western media which is attaching, linking my uniform with democracy."
He, however, said that he has not made a final decision about whether to stay on as army chief of staff and is 'still looking at the pulse of the people' even as he noted that he has until the end of the year to make up his mind.
Referring to his narrow escape from two assassination attempts last December, Musharraf, wearing pleated khakis, black loafters and a striped button-down shirt, said they were attempted by an alliance of foreign al-Qaeda 'masterminds' hiding in the mountainous tribal region near Afghanistan, and Pakistani 'planners' recruited from home-grown extremist groups.
He also speculated that it is unlikely Osama bin Laden is still hiding in the area because of the large military presence in the tribal region and the success of security forces in rounding up al Qaeda members elsewhere in the country. "Pakistan is no more a safe haven for them," he said.
Musharraf said that intelligence gleaned from computers and disks seized in a series of high-profile arrests this summer suggested that al-Qaeda leaders -- although not bin Laden specifically -- may be looking for refuge in Somalia, among other places. "It was an indication they are under pressure here."
He said military operations in the tribal area of Waziristan have killed scores of foreign al-Qaeda fighters in recent weeks. But he acknowledged that security forces are facing pockets of stiff resistance from local tribesmen.