Musharraf says war between Presidency, Parliament to be catastrophic

PAKISTAN: Pakistan's political stability is the top priority and a war between the presidency and the newly- elected parliament would be catastrophic, said Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in an interview with Washington Times published on Monday.

"I'm looking forward to working with this government for the full five years," Musharraf told Washington Times in Rawalpindi city on Wednesday. Musharraf scoffed at speculation in the Pakistani press that he would attempt to derail the results of Feb. 18 elections by using his constitutional powers to dismiss parliament, or not call parliament into session.

"You think someone who has spent his entire adult life defending Pakistan and the past eight years trying to put democracy back on track wants to see the government fail and the country return to political anarchy? " he said, adding "No. I'm committed to making this work."

Musharraf has to seek political reconciliation for political stability after Pakistan's two major parties, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), signed a joint declaration on Sunday on the formation of new government. Islamabad, Tuesday, Xinhua