Musharraf won't give up army job ahead of polls

INDIA: Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that he will not give up his position as the chief of the army before polls next year.

Musharraf, who came to power in a coup in 1999, said he would continue to hold the job as the army chief as long as the constitution allowed him to.

"The constitution allows me to hold it till 2007, so I will hold it... So if the elections, as I said are in November, I will be in uniform," Musharraf told private Indian NDTV network in an interview.

Musharraf said it was not easy to give up the army uniform.

"It's not easy, because there are some perceptions. At this moment what Pakistan is facing needs a unity, a unity of command over important organs of state. That includes the military, the political and the bureaucracy."

The president, however, did not give a definite date for the polls, saying they could be held late 2007 or early 2008.

Musharraf also told the network that he would not allow exiled former Pakistani prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to contest the elections. "If he comes, he will be sent back to Saudi Arabia. He is on a 10-years agreement. He will go straight back," Musharraf said.

The president said Bhutto would face charges of corruption if she returned from exile.

"If she comes, there are trials and cases against (her)."

NEW DELHI, Thursday, AFP