eight hours after he stepped down as president, Pervez Musharraf is a relaxed man because, for the first time in 44 years, he doesn't hold any office. But he's “pretty sure” he'll get one soon, his friends say. “Let the enemies fight with each other,” he told visiting friends, referring to the main ruling alliance leaders Asif Zardari, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman, and former premier Nawaz Sharif who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Musharraf hopes that a situation will arise in the coming weeks when he will get a chance to play a political role. He wants to prove he can play a role even without uniform, his friends say. The situation that's unfolding is over a disagreement in the coalition about restoring the Supreme Court judges sacked by Musharraf. Musharraf has told his visiting friends that Zardari would never restore deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry because if he does, Chaudhury would not spare Zardari. Musharraf resigned as president on Monday to avoid an impeachment motion against him by the ruling coalition. He remains in Army House, his army-guarded residence in Islamabad, which he must vacate in a month. His days now start with courtesy calls from old friends, relatives and fans, mostly from Europe and the United States. “I am spending time with my family, especially with my mother. I am playing tennis and enjoying it thoroughly,” former deputy information minister Tariq Azim quoted Musharraf as telling parliamentarians who visited him on Tuesday. Azim said Musharraf also wanted to write a follow-up to his 2006 memoir, “In The Line Of Fire.” “He told us he would like to write a book and said that a lot has happened between now and his first book,” Azim said. Musharraf also scoffed at media reports he would leave the country. “I am not going anywhere and all this talk of me leaving is rubbish,” Azim quoted him as saying. Musharraf seeks the views of everyone about his resignation, the future of Pakistan after his departure and especially about who could be the next president. Most of his friends congratulate him on his safe exit. One friend who retired from the Navy long ago reminded him that the first military president Gen Ayub Khan was forced to resign by the then-army chief Gen Yahya Khan in 1969, Yahya was forced to quit by Gen Gul Hassan in 1971, the third military President Gen Zia was killed in a plane accident in 1988 but Musharraf was the only one who was given a guard of honor by the Army after his departure from the presidency. Musharraf is happy to have made a safe exit but he shared his disappointment about some “ungrateful people” who abandoned him in the last days of his presidency. One of them was sitting Chief Justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar who became chief justice on Nov 2, 2007 after Musharraf imposed emergency. Dogar also validated the extra-constitutional acts of Musharraf after Nov 3. But when Musharraf contacted Dogar through a prominent lawyer in the first week of August 2008 seeking a Supreme Court stay order against the impeachment motion announced by the ruling coalition to oust him, Dogar turned him down. One friend informed Musharraf that Zardari wanted a woman to be the next president. Musharraf laughed and said as long as Maulana Fazlur Rehman is part of the ruling coalition, no woman can become president of Pakistan. According to another visitor, when Musharraf watched on TV the celebrations over his departure, he smiled and said that all these channels would be taught a great lesson soon by Zardari and Sharif. – With agencies __
