"Musharraf will say goodbye at the right time"

Washington, May 19 : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's Press Secretary Rashid Quereshi has said Musharraf wants to be a Constitutional President and will quit the office at the "right time".

"Musharraf's only desire is to act as the constitutional president and see Pakistan move into a total civilian dispensation, but as things stabilise, the right time will come for him to move away and say goodbye," the Daily Times quoted Qureshi as saying in an interview with US daily The Washington Post.

"This is not the time for him to leave, because there may be need for his constructive advice," he added.

He also said that though Musharraf was presently on the backfoot, he would soon start asserting himself. "The President's aides had advised him to be quiet and stay "20 steps back" from public life as the new government developed, but that he might start becoming more active in expressing his views if urgent situations developed with the economy or terrorism," said the President's aide.

The issue of whether Musharraf should remain in office has already divided the ruling coalition, eclipsed pressing national needs and revived conspiracy theories about American meddling in Pakistani affairs.

ANI