New Delhi, June 11: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said his country would like to send troops to post-war Iraq as part of "stabilisation force" within certain parameters and indicated he would stay on as a "civilian" President. Asked if Pakistan might send troops to Iraq, Musharraf told an Indian television channel, "Yes, we may, we would like to send."
"We are being asked to but we need to see certain parameters," he said in reply to another question, a release issued by the channel said. Musharraf said even though he did not believe in one person holding two posts he was doing so "till we establish the democracy we are talking about. In the process I don't want to destabilise Pakistan."
He said once institutions of democracy start performing their roles, "separation of the presidency from the uniform must be ensured and I will do it." Asked whether he had any deadline for democracy, he said, "I don't have a deadline for this."
Asked whether it wasn't time to establish functional democracy in Pakistan, Musharraf said, "I would like to do that once the time comes and the shaping of the country....I am afraid it will never happen. It will be disastrous. So therefore I will shape the country."
" But the period of transition is very important and in this period of transition both the uniform and the presidency is required and having achieved this transition, yes I will take my uniform off and after that if I am required for the country I will stay on as a civilian President," he said. Bureau Report