ISLAMABAD, 16 October 2004 — Pakistan’s opposition parties vowed yesterday to work to force out President Pervez Musharraf in a “do-or-die” battle for democracy after he backtracked on a pledge to give up his role as army chief.
“The time has come for a do-or-die struggle for restoration of real democracy in Pakistan,” prominent opposition leader Siddiqul Farooq said.
“Musharraf has closed all doors for democratic change and is prolonging his military dictatorship,” he told AFP.
“We have therefore decided to mobilize the nation and start a public movement to force him out of power,” said Farooq, spokesman of the Pakistan Muslim League-N of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The lower house of the Parliament passed a bill Thursday empowering Musharraf to stay on as army chief, despite his constitutionally enshrined and public pledge last year to quit the post by the end of this year.
The new law was passed by simple majority amid noisy protests by opposition members from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Islamic bloc and the secular Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD).
The house was plunged into pandemonium again yesterday as opposition deputies sprang up to their feet and shouted slogans against Musharraf and the “black law.”
Musharraf said in a nationwide broadcast on Dec. 24 last year that he would relinquish the military post by the end of 2004.
Musharraf acknowledged that a president in uniform was “undemocratic” and said he had made his decision for better political harmony in the country.
President Musharraf’s constitutional pledge was part of a deal with the MMA, which in turn backed the passage in Parliament of constitutional amendments which validated Musharraf’s presidency and sweeping powers, including the power to dismiss Parliament.
