A change of heart in this regard has taken place following meetings held by a Pakistani-American Shahid Ahmad Khan with top presidential aides. Khan, who has been in the capital for the last seven days, is an adviser to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on South Asia and had arrived in Pakistan as the pointman of John Kerry, who is heading this Senate Committee.
Both Shahid Khan and a legal adviser of Musharraf confirmed the strong possibility of the President shedding off the uniform before the polls. The legal adviser declared that the final decision would be made in the next three to four days. The president’s spokesman, however, denied having any knowledge in this regard.
Shahid Khan has held a string of meetings with Musharraf’s top aides. It was against the backdrop of his parleys that Musharraf’s pointmen left for London to negotiate with Benazir Bhutto. John Kerry has sent Khan on a ‘fact finding’ mission. Khan’s visit is to be followed by a flurry of visits by senior officials of the US State Department like John D Negroponte, Nicholas Burns and John Kerry.
Khan, who was the national co-chair of presidential election campaign of Kerry, is presently the adviser to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee (South Asia). He is also an adviser to the Senatorial Committee of the US Congress and to the Democratic Party.
Khan, along with Musharraf’s legal adviser, confirmed to The News of the plan of the COAS-president to shed his uniform before the presidential election. “There is a now a stronger possibility of this than ever before,” Khan told The News when asked about Musharraf’s plan to doff the uniform before the poll.
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Asked if Senator John Kerry would also be visiting Pakistan, he said: “Yes, probably in the next two months”. He said a senior official of the US State Department, John Negroponte and Nicholas Burns, were also expected to visit Pakistan shortly.
more SFRC hearing on Pakistan (July)