by Jean-Herve Deiller
ISLAMABAD, Sept 16 (AFP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf looks unlikely to step down as head of the powerful army, breaking his solemn pledge to relinquish the role in December.
Pakistan's information minister on Wednesday announced that Musharraf, who became army chief in 1998 and took power in a bloodless coup a year later, would retain his dual role but then said no decision had been taken.
However, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said the ruling party hopes the president will stay in uniform despite his promise to step down in the interests of "political harmony".
"Without his uniform, Musharraf is nothing," said one Western diplomat, questioning "how the opposition could have believed for one second that he would abandon so easily the source of his power".
Under pressure from the Islamist parliamentary opposition last year, Musharraf yielded to one of their principal demands in return for their support in ratifying a series of controversial constitutional changes.
"I have decided that I will shed my uniform in December 2004," he said in a live broadcast last December 24, the day before a second attempt on his life in less than two weeks.
"I have taken the decision in the interest of political harmony in the country," he added, describing the move as "historic".
But newly appointed Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, a Musharraf protege, also evoked the national interest when he raised the possibility this month that the president should remain as head of the armed forces.
The propaganda campaign for Musharraf to remain as Pakistan's president-general has gathered pace as the December deadline nears.
Demonstrations have been organised in major cities across the country in support of his army role. On Monday, the local government of Punjab, Pakistan's richest and most populated province, adopted a resolution calling for the president to stay in uniform "keeping in view national and international challenges faced by the country".
Over several weeks, Musharraf himself has given strong hints that he may not be able to honour his pledge, citing ongoing counter-terrorism operations which compel him to remain as chief of the army, the source of his regime's strength.
This month he gave a television interview claiming that "96 percent" of Pakistanis want him to stay in uniform, without giving a source for the figure.
"We need Musharraf and the Pakistani military for the bigger, nobler and more difficult task of nation building," prominent columnist Ahmed Quraishi commented in English-language daily The News.
Only rival daily Dawn, founded by the 'Founder of Pakistan' Mohammed Ali Jinnah, has provided a voice of dissent among the national press.
"If Pakistan is to have a democratic destiny, then those at the helm must uphold and strengten democratic norms," it said in an editorial this week.
Mullah Fazlur Rehman, leader of the powerful Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Islamist political coalition, has repeatedly warned that "Islamists will take to the streets" if Musharraf keeps his dual role.