RAWALPINDI, April 8: Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that President General Pervez Musharraf will remain president of the country after the 2007 elections. He was talking to media persons here on Saturday after a plant sapling ceremony organised by the Pakistan Tobacco Company at Liaquat Bagh. The minister said that President Musharraf had been elected president of the country constitutionally and it depended on him whether he would obtain votes from the present assemblies or future assemblies would elect him.

Mr Rashid said that a uniformed president was imperative for the country as enemies of the country were engaged in nefarious designs. He expressed his hope that the Pakistan Muslim League would win the next election with a big margin. Sheikh Rashid while answering a question regarding Iran issue, said that the Foreign Office would answer that question.

He said that political gatherings in Liaquat Bagh had been banned while Rawalpindi Hyde Park would be constructed along with Nullah Lai for political purposes. The minister said that Punjab government had provided Rs500 million for the renovation and beautification work of Liaquat Bagh, adding that the Pakistan Tobacco Company had cooperated to plant 40 million saplings in the different parks of the city.—Online