Minister quits to protest Musharraf's re-election plan

PAKISTAN: A Pakistani minister announced that he was quitting over President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's plan to seek re-election while still army chief, the first senior government official to abandon the military leader in the run-up to the vote.

Ishaq Khan Khakwani, minister of state for information technology, said Monday he submitted his resignation to the prime minister who will forward it to Musharraf.

"My only opposition (to Musharraf) is over election in uniform," Khakwani told reporters, referring to Musharraf's plan to secure another five-year term while still chief of the army.

The move dismayed many in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party and stirred talk that some lawmakers will switch to opposition parties before parliamentary polls due by January.

The Supreme Court eventually reinstated its chief justice, raising the prospect that it could declare Musharraf's re-election unconstitutional.

The emboldened court already ruled last week that Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf toppled in 1999 and sent into exile, can return home.

Islamabad, Tuesday, AP.