Army not to leave me in lurch: Musharraf

The President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday that Pakistan’s powerful army still supported him but he was ready to quit presidency depending his stepping down could resolve all of the country’s problems.

Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, blasted “hypocrites” for saying that the nuclear-armed Islamic republic’s 500,000-strong military had turned against him since he stepped down as army chief last November.

“The army will never leave me alone,” Musharraf told a meeting of business leaders in the southern port city of Karachi. “Those who said the armed forces are not with me are the worst hypocrites and rumourmongers.”

Musharraf however rejected calls by Sharif and other opposition figures for him to quit as president. Musharraf’s fate has caused a split within the ruling coalition led by the parties of Bhutto and Sharif.

“I am not leaving Pakistan, I am not leaving the country to get a mansion in America or Turkey and why should I do this? I have committed no crime or sin,” Musharraf said.

“But, I will take not a single day to resign when I see it will benefit the country and solve all of its problems,” added Musharraf, who was speaking after keeping a low public profile for several weeks.

Musharraf also urged the newly elected government to focus on political reconciliation and economic problems and to combat Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants responsible for a wave of suicide attacks in the country.

“If the flood of Talibanisation is not stopped the whole of Pakistan will see Red Mosques everywhere. We have to stop it,” he said, referring to an Islamabad mosque besieged and stormed by troops a year ago with the loss of more than 100 lives.