Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he was reluctant to accede to growing demands to give up his army post as he seeks a new term as head of state, describing his uniform as "part of my skin."
The BBC's Urdu-language service said it asked Musharraf in an interview on Tuesday which office -- the presidency or chief of army staff -- was more important to him and that he acknowledged he would eventually quit the military.
"But when I have to do it, I will have to think a bit about it. I have always said that I will never violate the Constitution," Musharraf was quoted as saying.
Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup, denouncing Pakistan's main opposition parties as corrupt and incompetent. He then pushed through a constitutional amendment that exempted him from rules barring the president from holding another office.
Opposition parties insist the exemption expires this year and have used a row over Musharraf's suspension of Pakistan's chief justice to bolster their calls for him to step down.
But Musharraf, who enjoys strong backing from the US for his help against al-Qaeda and who plans to ask lawmakers for a new five-year term this fall, has yet to make his intentions clear.
"The army uniform has become part of my skin. I have been wearing it for 40 to 45 years. It is part of my life. It made me what I am today. Army is my life and blood," Musharraf was quoted as saying.
"I became president because of circumstances," he said.
With parliamentary elections also expected by year-end, Musharraf is urging moderates to join him in countering Islamic extremists who appear to be expanding their influence.
Authorities have been engaged in a four-month confrontation with two radical clerics in Islamabad, whose male and female student followers have launched a campaign of Taliban-style moral policing in the city and kidnapped police officers.
Musharraf defended his decision to negotiate rather than intervene with force, saying radicals at the downtown Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, were armed and that his political opponents would exploit any bloodshed.
"You will say `they got women killed, they got mosques demolished,'" he said. "The opposition also wants me to do this. They will show it on TV. Three women lying dead there in a pool of blood."
Still, he insisted that the standoff, which has prompted authorities to deploy hundreds of armed security forces in capital, "has to be ended."
"Talibanization is not the future of Pakistan. We are an enlightened Islamic state," he said.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Cannabis-based medicines have shown little evidence of effectiveness for treating most mental health and substance-use disorders, according to a large review of past studies published in a major medical journal on Monday. Medical use of cannabinoids has been expanding, including in the US, Canada and Australia, where many patients report using cannabis products to manage conditions such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep problems. Researchers reviewed data from 54 randomized clinical trials conducted between 1980 and May last year involving 2,477 participants for their analysis published in The Lancet. The studies assessed cannabinoids as a primary treatment for mental disorders or substance-use
NATIONWIDE BLACKOUT: US President Donald Trump cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba, strangling the Caribbean island’s already antiquated grid Cuba’s national electric grid collapsed on Monday, the nation’s grid operator said, leaving about 10 million people without power amid a US-imposed oil blockade that has crippled the already obsolete generation system. Grid operator UNE on social media said that it is investigating the causes of the blackout, the latest in a series of widespread outages that last for hours or days and that this weekend sparked a rare violent protest in the communist-run nation. Officials ruled out a major power plant failure, but had still not pinpointed the root cause of the grid collapse, suggesting a problem with transmission. Officials said that
‘HEALTH ISSUE’: More than 250 women are hospitalized every day due to complications from unsafe abortions, and about three die, a study showed Jane had been bleeding heavily for days before finally seeking help, not from a hospital, but from the man who sold her the pills meant to end her six-week pregnancy. Abortions are strictly outlawed in the mainly Catholic Philippines, forcing women to turn to a patchwork of providers operating in the online shadows. While rare in practice, Philippine law allows for prison terms of up to six years for abortion patients and providers, leaving thousands of Filipinas to search for solutions in online forums where unlicensed sellers promote abortifacients. “It was very painful, as if my abdomen was being twisted,” said Jane, whose
RSS