Musharraf says he will keep his promise to give up army post

Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that he would keep his promise to relinquish his post as chief of army staff after his re-election as president.

"The next four months would be crucial for Pakistan as they would see presidential and general elections, so we will have to be more cautious," Musharraf told the ruling elite at an Iftar dinner hosted by the outgoing chief of Inter Services Intelligence Lieutenant General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani at the ISI Mess in the federal capital.

Army's top brass, including the newly appointed ISI chief Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj, Musharraf's likely successor General Tariq Majeed, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, senior cabinet members and a number of diplomats also attended the dinner.

Musharraf said the circumstances now were very different to what they were in 2004, when, he said, there was no constitutional bar on him regarding holding two offices.

He said he had no doubt that history would record the last eight years as a defining period in Pakistan's history, where true democracy, freedom of expression and media and economic stability took root.

"I am proud to have put the essence of democracy in our national polity by creating a third tier of elected government at the district level, by empowering women, youth and minorities, and by freedom of expression and liberation of media," he said.