ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will step down as army chief if he wins re-election, his lawyer said Tuesday, paving the way for civilian rule in the country after eight turbulent years.
The party of self-exiled opposition leader Benazir Bhutto dismissed the plan as undemocratic and unconstitutional, but did not say if it would affect a proposed power-sharing deal between her and Musharraf.
Musharraf, a key US ally in the "war on terror", plans to seek a new five-year mandate in October. He seized power in a 1999 coup and has faced mass street protests since trying to sack the country's chief judge.
"If elected for a second term as president, General Pervez Musharraf shall relinquish charge of the office of chief of army staff soon after elections and before taking the oath of president for the second term," Sharfuddin Pirzada told the Supreme Court.
The lawyer, a close aide to Musharraf, was speaking during a hearing into legal challenges by the opposition against the Pakistani leader's rule.
Musharraf is seeking re-election by the outgoing parliament in a vote that is due before October 15. If he wins he is expected to take the oath within a month, as the government says his current term expires on November 15.
"The time has come for Musharraf to shed his military uniform," deputy information minister Tariq Azeem told AFP. "It is a matter of days and not weeks now."
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz "congratulated" Musharraf on the "momentous" decision, an official statement said.
Musharraf, a former commando, had strongly resisted moves to make him quit the military -- which is the main source of his power and whose loyalty in the fight against Al-Qaeda militants has kept Washington onside.
Earlier this year he said his army uniform had become "part of my skin."
But his military role became the major stumbling block in months of talks with Bhutto.
Bhutto, who has been living in Dubai and London since 1999 to avoid corruption charges in her homeland, announced on Friday that she intends to return to Pakistan on October 18, with or without a deal.
Her Pakistan People's Party said in a statement that it "cannot accept a uniformed president. General Musharraf's decision to get himself re-elected in uniform is both unconstitutional and undemocratic."
It said it could resign from parliament if the government does not take steps for reconciliation, including an amnesty for Bhutto's terms in power from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996 and a repeal on a ban on premiers serving a third term.
But there was no direct comment from Bhutto. Newspaper reports this week said Musharraf would announce his intention to quit as part of a secretly-struck deal with her backed by the United States and Britain.
It would allow her to contest general elections due by early 2008.
Musharraf's move was also condemned by the party of another former premier, Nawaz Sharif. Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia last week when he tried to fly home to challenge Musharraf, the man who ousted him.
"The announcement is just a threat from Musharraf. He means that if you elect him he will take off his uniform, otherwise you will get nothing," said senior party member Raja Zafar ul-Haq, a former law minister.
Musharraf could still face trouble in even standing for election.
The Supreme Court is hearing petitions against Musharraf's re-election from the country's main fundamentalist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and a lawyers' association.
There is controversy too after the election commission changed a rule that previously forbade any officials -- including army officers like Musharraf -- from standing for polls within two years of retiring.
Attention has also turned to who would replace Musharraf as army chief amid reports of growing dissatisfaction in the ranks at the political turmoil and at the growing threat posed by Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.
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