The Presidency doesn’t want confrontation with anyone and was not hatching any conspiracy against the Government, Musharraf added.

Dismissing reports in the media over the past few days that he planned to go into exile after quitting, Musharraf, who has clung on to power even after the defeat of his supporters in the general election, said, “My going or staying depends on me and Pakistan, and nobody else.”

Denying reports that he might go into exile in Turkey, he said: “I don’t have a house anywhere outside Pakistan and I don’t want to have one.”

“I am the constitutionally elected President of Pakistan. I will judge if I have any role to contribute towards Pakistan. I will not make this judgement under pressure or on the basis of rumours,” he said. “I cannot become a useless vegetable and I can’t be witness to the downfall of the state.”

Musharraf, who was recently described by PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari as a “relic of the past” standing between the people and democracy, pledged his support to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and said he would not interfere in the Government’s work. “I would be an unstable man if I, under the present circumstances, was to apply 58(2b). Only an unstable man would do this. I have not become unstable till now,” he said.

Significantly, Musharraf chose to speak to the media on a day when Prime Minister Gilani and the top political leadership were out of Pakistan. Gilani and Zardari are currently on a visit to Saudi Arabia while PML(N) chief Nawaz Sharif, a key ally in the ruling coalition, is in London.

... contd.