Musharraf steps down as army chief

RAWALPINDI – General Pervez Musharraf finally quit as Pakistan army chief yesterday, trading the post for a second five-year term as president and fulfilling a promise many Pakistanis doubted he would keep.

He passed the baton of command to his hand-picked successor, General Ashfaq Kayani, at a ceremony at army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, is to be sworn in as civilian president today, having relinquished his position in the one institution that guaranteed his power.”The system continues, people come and go, everyone has to go, every good thing comes to an end, everything is mortal,” a tearful Musharraf told top brass and government leaders at the change-of-command ceremony.The opposition parties of former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who are both mulling their participation in a January 8 general election, welcomed Musharraf’s resignation.”It is a pleasant moment in the history of Pakistan.Now our army will get a full-time general as its leader,” Bhutto told reporters in Karachi.Musharraf’s power and influence are bound to be diminished.The question is by how much.”Naturally, the support of the army, that’s what has been vital,” said a former army commander, Mirza Aslam Beg, who declined to take power when President Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq was killed in a 1988 plane crash.Beg said he expected significant changes, beginning with more aggressive opposition demands to end emergency rule.Musharraf is due to address the nation on Thursday after being sworn in, and he could use the occasion to end the emergency.Pakistani stock investors welcomed Musharraf’s resignation as a step towards stability.The index ended 0,63 per cent higher, boosted by talk that the emergency was about to be lifted.Nampa-ReutersMusharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, is to be sworn in as civilian president today, having relinquished his position in the one institution that guaranteed his power.”The system continues, people come and go, everyone has to go, every good thing comes to an end, everything is mortal,” a tearful Musharraf told top brass and government leaders at the change-of-command ceremony.The opposition parties of former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who are both mulling their participation in a January 8 general election, welcomed Musharraf’s resignation.”It is a pleasant moment in the history of Pakistan.Now our army will get a full-time general as its leader,” Bhutto told reporters in Karachi.Musharraf’s power and influence are bound to be diminished.The question is by how much.”Naturally, the support of the army, that’s what has been vital,” said a former army commander, Mirza Aslam Beg, who declined to take power when President Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq was killed in a 1988 plane crash.Beg said he expected significant changes, beginning with more aggressive opposition demands to end emergency rule.Musharraf is due to address the nation on Thursday after being sworn in, and he could use the occasion to end the emergency.Pakistani stock investors welcomed Musharraf’s resignation as a step towards stability.The index ended 0,63 per cent higher, boosted by talk that the emergency was about to be lifted.Nampa-Reuters