Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has agreed to step down as Chief of Army Staff by the end of 2004, accepting a key demand of an opposition Islamic alliance, the information minister said today.
"Yes he has agreed to quit by the end of December 2004 as Army Chief," Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said. "An agreement has been signed with the MMA," he said, referring to the six-party religious alliance called Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal.
It was also a key demand of the Commonwealth for readmission of Pakistan, which was suspended from the grouping in 1999 after the military coup that brought Mr Musharraf to power.
The MMA had demanded MR Musharraf give up his dual role as president and head of the army and seek parliamentary approval for constitutional changes that give him sweeping powers, including the right to dissolve parliament.
The religious coalition, which counts supporters of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban rulers among its leaders, has virtually paralysed parliamentary proceedings over the standoff.