ISLAMABAD, June 3: Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri said on Friday that President Gen Pervez Musharraf would contest the 2007 elections as civilian as retaining the uniform beyond December 2004 was not an easy decision for him. Talking to Dawn about his interview with an Indian TV channel, Mr Kasuri said he had been asked how could Pakistan fight for the rights of Kashmiris when its own president was a man in uniform.

The minister said he replied that it was never an easy decision for the president to retain his uniform but there were two to three other reasons, besides the Kashmir issue and the ongoing peace process with India, that compelled him to retain his uniform.

“Yes, I am very clear in my statement that it was not easy for the president to retain his uniform and I think that it would be difficult for him to retain it beyond 2007,” the foreign minister said.

The minister said he had told the TV channel that the present opposition in Pakistan was the strongest in the history of the country because it was an outcome of a strong democratic process and elections.