LAHORE, July 31: Minister of state for information technology Ishaq Khakwani has claimed that all PPP legislators will vote for re-election of President Gen Pervez Musharraf in uniform by the existing assemblies.

the minister rejected reports that the PPP lawmakers would abstain from voting.

The minister claimed that PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto would not move the Supreme Court against President Musharraf’s plan to seek the mandate for another term from the existing assemblies retaining his military uniform.

Mr Khakwani claimed that during a reported meeting between President Musharraf and Ms Bhutto in the UAE, the latter had agreed to extend full support to the president. However, the minister added, Ms Bhutto’s ‘prevarications’ were aimed at making her moves acceptable to the party and the public at large.

He said both sides had agreed to help each other in the elections.

About the president’s dash to the UAE for meeting the PPP chairperson, the minister said the Supreme Court’s July 20 judgment had prompted him to take decisions for the future as early as possible. “In the changed atmosphere in the Supreme Court, the only course left was to bank upon the inherent powers of parliament. That’s why the meeting took place at such a short notice”, Mr Khakwani explained.

The PPP would support President Musharraf in his re-election and then the general would take off his uniform before December 31, Mr Khakwani said. He said the two sides also agreed that the president’s power to dissolve the National Assembly would be revoked through an amendment to the Constitution.