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Musharraf to take oath as President today

Nirupama Subramanian

Becomes emotional as he hands over charge to General Ashfaq Kayani

— Photo: AFP

FAREWELL TO ARMS: General Pervez Musharraf (right) presenting the command baton to General Ashfaq Kayani in Rawalpindi on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD: Many thought it would never happen. But under pressure from the international community and opponents at home, Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf finally stood down as the Chief of Army Staff on Wednesday, a day before he prepared to dive into the uncertain world of politics as a civilian President.

In an emotional ceremony at a stadium in Rawalpindi, he handed over charge of the world’s seventh largest Army to his handpicked successor Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani as a military band played Auld Lang Syne. He is to be sworn in as President for a second five-year term on Thursday.

His retirement from the Army has met a key demand of the international community, including his main backer, the U.S., that he should separate the two offices, but U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who described it as “a good first step” said he must also lift the Emergency.

Speculation

Attorney-General Malik Qayyum’s remarks to Dawn News television that he would take oath under the 1973 Constitution increased speculation that the newly sworn-in President may also soon announce the lifting of Emergency rule and with it, the provisional constitutional order.

At home, the reaction from his political opponents to his stepping down as Army chief was mixed.

“We welcome Musharraf’s decision to shed the uniform. ... Now the Pakistani Army has got a full-fledged chief and they can better perform their duties,” said Benazir Bhutto told reporters in Karachi, but added: “We are not in a hurry to accept Pervez Musharraf as a civilian president.”

Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday Gen. Musharraf’s retirement would make “a lot of difference,” but insisted he must also lift the Emergency and reinstate the ousted judges to ensure the elections are fair.

The All Parties Democratic Movement, headed by PML (N) but excluding the PPP, is expected to meet on Thursday to make a final decision on whether or not to boycott the January 8 general elections.

A group of retired military officers were more blunt. In a statement, the ex-servicemen said Gen. Musharraf’s actions had brought “the Armed Forces of Pakistan into disrepute,” and demanded he should step down not just as Army chief but also as President of Pakistan. Among the signatories were Air Marshal (retd.) Noor Khan, Admiral (retd.) Fasih Bokhari, Air Chief Marshal (retd.) Pervez Mehdi Qureshi, Air Vice Marshal (retd.) Abbas Mirza, Major-General (retd.) Saeed Ahmed Wahla, Air Commodore Aurangzeb Azim, Lieutenant-General (retd.) Talat Masood, Lieutenant-General (retd.) Asad Durrani, and Lieutenant-General (retd.) Ali Kuli Khan. At his brass-and-polish farewell ceremony in Rawalpindi, Gen. Musharraf addressed an invited audience in a voice thick with emotion — he sounded close to tears — about his love for the Army, and how everything he knew, he had learnt from the institution that he entered as an 18-year-old.

“After remaining in uniform for 46 years I am saying goodbye to this army. This army is my life, this army is my passion. I have loved this army.” He was dressed in his ceremonial khaki uniform and green sash, complete with all his medals.

Describing the Army as his “family”, he said it was saddening to leave the service after such a long stay, but added that it was a way of life, as every person has to go.

Expressing full confidence in the new Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Musharraf said “today I am handing over command of armed forces in the hands of a man - General Kayani, whom I know for more than 20 years.

“I know his professional skills since he was a colonel, and I knew from then that he is an excellent soldier. I am confident that army would outshine better than before under his command,” he added. Foreign office spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said at a regular weekly briefing that Gen. Musharraf’s stepping down would not lead to any shift in Pakistan’s policy in the “war on terror”.

“It has nothing to do with the uniform issue.”

Recaptured

PTI reports:

Army troops have recaptured a key town in northwestern Pakistan that was over-run by pro-Taliban militants after a major offensive that has left at least 230 rebels dead.

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