A key legal adviser to Pakistan's Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf has said that the military ruler plans to become the country's president even as a senior government official does not rule out Musharraf weighing the option of holding a referendum to legalise his rule.
Sharifuddin Pirzada, well-known Constitution lawyer and legal advisor to Musharraf, told Newsline magazine that there was a possibility of the military ruler taking over as president.
Pirzada is credited with finalising the drafts for constitutional amendments to legalise Musharraf's military regime. Musharraf recently told a press conference that he would be extending his service as army chief but declined to divulge plans to continue in power.
On the options for Musharraf to remain in power beyond October 2002, the deadline set by the Pakistan Supreme Court to hand over power to an elected government, the magazine quoted a senior government official as saying that the military ruler currently weighed the options to a referendum or get himself elected by reviving the suspended National and Provincial Assemblies. Bureau Report