Pakistan army chief vows to stay out of politics — Musharraf to Convene Parliament

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan‘s army chief Thursday rejected suggestions of any rift between the military and embattled President Pervez Musharraf, and insisted the armed forces would stay out of politics.

Ashfaq Kayani, who succeeded Musharraf as army chief, told a gathering of top military commanders in the garrison city of Rawalpindi that the military had no intention of becoming more involved in the political process.
 
Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq Kayani rejected suggestions of any rift between the military and embattled President Pervez Musharraf, and insisted the armed forces would stay out of politics.(AFP/HO)

“He pointed out that any kind of schism, at any level, under the circumstances would not be in the larger interest of the nation,” the military said in a statement.

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Musharraf to Convene Parliament

JACOBABAD, Pakistan (AFP) – Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said Friday he would convene the country’s new parliament within ten days and vowed his full support to the incoming coalition government.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said Friday he would convene the country’s new parliament within ten days and vowed his full support to the incoming coalition government.(AFP/File/John Thys)
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Speaking at the opening of water-supply project in southern Sindh province, Musharraf said the international community recognised that he had fulfilled his pledge to hold free and fair elections.

“The national and provincial assemblies sessions will be called in a week or one and half weeks. There will be no hurdle to this,” state-run Pakistan television showed him as saying.

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Musharraf’s deputy a reluctant linchpin

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – As embattled President Pervez Musharraf and his political opponents grapple over the country’s future, an equally crucial role may be played by a less known figure — a blunt-talking, chain-smoking, golf-playing general who by all reports would like the army to get out of politics.

Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, 55, Musharraf’s designated No. 2 man in the military, is slotted to be the next army chief of Pakistan when Musharraf gives up his uniform, as he has promised to do. That would give him enormous influence in a country with a history of military rule and coups. A major question is just how loyal he and Pakistan’s other generals are to Musharraf during the current crisis.

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