ISLAMABAD, May 19: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Friday that under the constitution he could remain in uniform only till 2007.

He added that while he would not take any extra-constitutional step, he would take a final decision about the uniform in 2007.

In an interview with a Pushto-language TV channel, whose excerpts stirred a political controversy earlier on, the president said that he was not cut out for Pakistani politics.

But, he said, he could hardly change his temperament now. He said that, to his mind, the country’s geo-political situation demanded that he stayed in uniform.

President Musharraf referred to the clauses of the constitution which dealt with a president’s term in office. Saying that there was no ambiguity about the term’s length, he added the assemblies could elect him between Sept 15 and Oct 15.

The president said the government had successfully brought to book Al Qaeda terrorists in cities as well as in tribal areas.

He spelled out a plan to at once strengthen the political setup in the tribal areas and reinforce the law-enforcement agencies.

However, President Musharraf conceded that extremism in tribal areas had been on the rise. “I don’t think that the Taliban have a common leader now. Perhaps it is Mullah Omar, who I think is in Afghanistan.

The Taliban may have linkages here, but they do not have a common leader,” he asserted.

He said that the entire chain of political command – from the provincial governor to the political agent – would be strengthened to ensure that a political solution to extremism could be found.—Agencies