Musharraf Says Farewell to Army

The president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, today attempted to secure the military loyalty crucial to his bid to retain power by attending a farewell ceremony marking his resignation as head of the army.

Tomorrow Musharraf will finally bow to a key demand of opposition leaders and the west by standing down as head of the army, before being sworn in as a civilian president on Thursday.

The move risks unsettling Pakistan's influential 500,000-strong military. In a mark of respect for his power base, Musharraf bid his troops farewell at a carefully orchestrated ceremony at the army's headquarters at Rawalpindi.

He was greeted by a guard of honor composed of service personnel from the army, navy and air force. He also held talks with senior commanders of the three services.

Musharraf's spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, said the president would make a number of "farewell visits" before ending a military career that began in 1964.

The man Musharraf has appointed as his successor, General Ashfaq Kayani, a former chief of the country's powerful intelligence service, is expected to take charge tomorrow.

Despite his resignation from the army, Musharraf will keep his current military staff and his security will also be the responsibility of the army.

Yesterday the US state department welcomed Musharraf's departure from the military as a "step toward putting the country back on the path to greater democracy".

Musharraf's allies have claimed that he is willing to accept other some other demands made by opposition parties, but not the reappointment of the deposed justices of the supreme court.

Quoting the attorney general, Malik Muhammad Qayyum, and the former railways minister Sheik Rashid Ahmad, the Pak Tribune said Musharraf is prepared to lift the state of emergency and restore the constitution before the elections in January.

But he would not reinstate chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his supreme court colleagues, the newspaper said.

Musharraf accused the supreme court of overstepping its authority and paralyzing the government, just as it was expected to rule against his re-election as president in October.

Musharraf faces strong opposition from two of his key opponents, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto - both former prime ministers who have returned from exile in time for the parliamentary elections in January.

Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf's 1999 coup, and Bhutto have registered to run in the election, but are continuing to threaten a boycott.

Yesterday Imran Khan, the politician and former cricketer, tore up his nomination papers and claimed that contesting the elections amounted to legalizing unconstitutional acts of Musharraf.

He said: "I feel that even filing of nomination papers amounts to betrayal of the judiciary."