Musharraf set to quit army, become civilian president on Thursday

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will finally step down as the head of Pakistan's military and would be sworn in as a civilian president on Thursday, an army spokesman said. "He is going to take oath as has been announced by government on the 29th, most probably, so he is going to take off his uniform a day before that," spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said. Civilian officials have repeatedly said Musharraf would step down imminently as army chief, a key demand of domestic opponents threatening to boycott January parliamentary elections. But Arshad's statement was the first from the military naming a date for him to restore direct civilian rule.