Musharraf Won’t Cede Army Post

President Pervez Musharraf declared late Friday that he would not step down as army chief of staff by the end of the year as promised. Giving up his uniform now, he said, would jeopardize Pakistan’s political and economic stability.

Musharraf had been saying for months that he was having second thoughts about the pledge he made last year to shed his uniform, but he had never explicitly revealed his intentions until an interview Friday night with a television station in Karachi.

“I will remain in uniform even after Dec. 31,” he said on the broadcast, adding that he would address the nation in the next few days to explain his reasoning. “I am telling you this for the first time.”

Musharraf came to power in a bloodless military coup in October 1999. This month, while he was on a trip to Latin America, Washington and Europe, his supporters in parliament passed a law allowing him to keep both posts through 2007.

Musharraf’s declaration sets the stage for renewed confrontation with political opponents, who accused him Saturday of betraying his oft-stated commitment to restoring democracy.

The announcement presents a dilemma for the Bush administration, which has made promoting democracy in the Muslim world a top priority but is wary of upsetting its delicate relationship with Musharraf, a moderate, secular-minded Muslim who is a key ally in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism.

Military governments have ruled Pakistan for much of its 57-year history.

“Musharraf has broken a pledge with the nation, but his mentors in Washington don’t care because they need such dictators all over the Muslim world,” Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the head of Jamaat-i-Islami, one of Pakistan’s most influential Islamic parties, said in a telephone interview from the northwestern city of Peshawar.

U.S. officials have not commented on the issue, saying it is a matter for Pakistanis to decide.