.bmp)
.bmp)
ISLAMABAD,Pakistan-President Gen. Pervez Musharraf could quit as chief of the army and take oath as a civilian president by Saturday, a senior official said, meeting a key demand of critics at home and abroad of his imposition of emergency rule.The Supreme Court is expected to clear the last legal obstacles to Musharraf's continued rule on Thursday.The Election Commission can then confirm his victory in November's presidential election.Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Musharraf would quickly quit his army post and be sworn in for a new five-year term."It may happen on Saturday," Qayyum said. "I know the president, and he will honor his commitment."The general has been under heavy political pressure since he suspended the constitution Nov. 3 and cracked down on dissenters who had questioned his right to stay in power.The United States has said crucial Jan. 8 elections will be seriously compromised if the state of emergency is not lifted. The U.S. hopes that balloting will usher in a moderate government committed to fighting Islamic extremism.At home, Musharraf risks seeing his two main rivals-former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif-join forces to oust him.But having purged the Supreme Court of dissenting judges, Musharraf has reined back some of the most draconian elements of what many legal experts are describing as martial law.Seeking to stave off diplomatic isolation, Pakistan on Wednesday asked a key international forum comprising Britain and its former colonies to delay a decision on whether to suspend it.In a phone call with his British counterpart on Tuesday, caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro asked the Commonwealth for a "short postponement," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said.Soomro "expressed concern that any precipitate decision by (the Commonwealth) on Pakistan's participation in the Commonwealth would be unfortunate" and urged them to send a delegation to Pakistan to find out more about the situation, Sadiq said.Foreign ministers from the 53-nation organization meeting in Kampala, Uganda, were expected to take up the issue of Pakistan on Thursday.A suspension would be an international embarrassment for Pakistan, which was last kicked out of the organization in 1999, following Musharraf's coup. It took them five years to be reinstated.As in the days of Noah.....
