"Zardari wants Musharraf to continue, as his removal 'may lead to chaos'"

London, July 2 : A Pakistani journalist has said that it was not the US but PPP Chairman Asif Ali Zardari who wanted to see President Pervez Musharraf continuing in his office and chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry not reinstated.

Citing reasons for his argument, Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, said Zardari feels Musharraf still assumed a key position in the current political set up and that the country might witness chaos if he was removed.

"If Musharraf went and there would be chaos and you know it could be for very self-interest reasons," the Dawn quoted Zakaria as saying.

"It is because the US believes, the only stability outside the military in Pakistan today is the PPP and Zardari has told them he does not want the restoration of judiciary," added Zakaria.

He said personally he would like to see the chief justice and the 60 judges restored and he thought Musharraf should have receded on his own rather than forced to give up his uniform and other powers. He also said that in his opinion Musharraf should not have imposed emergency, he should not have fired the judges, and he should not have replaced the Supreme Court.

ANI