In a confusing series of statements, Pakistan's information minister first announced Wednesday night that President Pervez Musharraf would renege on a public promise to take off his military uniform and serve as Pakistan's civilian president. Then, hours later, the minister appeared on a private television channel at 1am yesterday and said it was simply his "own hope and appeal" that Musharraf break his promise.
The comments by the minister, Sheik Rashid Ahmed, are the latest in a series by government officials that appear to be laying the groundwork for an announcement by Musharraf that he will remain both the top military commander and the president. After Ahmed's first announcement, a close aide to Musharraf expressed surprise and said the general had told him of no such decision.
As part of an agreement with an alliance of hard-line religious parties, Musharraf promised to resign as army chief by the end of 2004 in exchange for the enactment of constitutional reforms that gave him sweeping power. But in recent weeks aides to the general have said he is not bound by the agreement.
Over the last several weeks, politicians who back him have begun publicly asking him to keep both posts.
On Monday the provincial assembly of Punjab, the largest in population of the four provinces, passed a resolution urging Musharraf to keep his army post. But on Wednesday legislators in Northwest Frontier Province, where the opposition religious alliance holds power, passed a resolution asking Musharraf to keep just one post.
Political analysts and opposition politicians have said that if Musharraf breaks his promise, it will be a major setback for the return to democracy in the country and will polarize politics. The general seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.
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