Musharraf shuffles top brass after pledge to resign as army chief

Sep 21, 2007, 12:03 GMT

Islamabad - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Friday made a series of top-level military appointments ahead of elections expected to win him a new term.

The shake-up came three days after he publicly pledged to step down as army chief if re-elected in a parliamentary vote scheduled for October 6 and before he is sworn in as president for five more years.

Musharraf appointed the former head of Military Intelligence, Nadeem Taj, as the new chief of the pre-eminent military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), according to an army statement.

Taj was promoted from Major General to Lieutenant General, together with five other officers assigned to new posts.

He replaces ISI chief Ashfaq Pervez Kiani, who is a prime candidate to take over from Musharraf as chief of army staff when the president relinquishes his military status.

Newly promoted officers will take over various posts, including at the Army General Headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and in the anti-narcotics force.

Such shake-ups are keenly watched in a country that has been under military rule for more than half of its 60-year existence.

Observers saw the move as being aimed at ensuring that loyalists are firmly in control of key branches of the military and associated structures when the president assumes a fully civilian status.

Musharraf is expected to win a further mandate with the support of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League in the upcoming vote by national and provincial parliamentary assemblies.

But the military ruler has experienced a rapid slump in his popularity this year amid rising Islamic militancy and intense opposition activity after his suspension of the country's chief justice in March.

Musharraf's close counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States has also eroded public support for him.

There has been growing opposition to controversial amendments to the constitution and in parliament allowing Musharraf to serve as both president and army chief until November 2007.

Unmoved by his pledge to resign from the army, opposition parties continue to push petitions in the Supreme Court - headed by the recently reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry - challenging the legality of his re-election in uniform.

The court in Islamabad has been urged to have Musharraf disqualified as a candidate, although there has been speculation that he may declare emergency rule if the court obstructs his re-election.