Musharraf to take oath

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Source: CCTV.com | 11-24-2007 13:36

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (L) shaking hands with Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammad Mian Soomro in Islamabad, 22 November 2007. (AFP/PID)

Incumbent Pakistani President Musharraf will likely take the oath of office as president for another five-year term next week. But next week's expected return of exiled opposition leader Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan poses new challenges for Musharraf.

Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum said on Friday that Musharraf would take the oath of office as president for another five-year term by December the first.

Qayyum also says Musharraf might resign as army chief by the weekend since the top court has dismissed all the six petitions challenging his qualification to contest the presidential election.

Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif, the leader of an opposition party and a former prime minister, will return to Pakistan next week.

Sharif's return from Saudi Arabia would bolster opponents of Musharraf ahead of the January 8 parliamentary elections. It will also complicate rival Benazir Bhutto's bid to return to power.

Earlier in the week, Pakistan was suspended from the Councils of the Commonwealth after President Pervez Musharraf failed to meet a November 22nd deadline to end emergency rule.

Pakistan has called the Commonwealth's action unreasonable and unjustified. But the organization has defended its decision.

This is the second time that Pakistan has been suspended from the bloc in less than a decade.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei