LOS ANGELES, June 29: President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said he would leave uniform at an “appropriate” time and defended constitutional amendments under the LFO.

Addressing the Pakistani community in the West Coast, the president said he was ready to give up his hat of army chief for the sake of democracy but would not do so because the country needed him.

“I don’t want to bluff so I cannot give you any timeframe,” he said, adding he considered himself someone who had brought harmony to the power structure to check internal tussles.

“The moment I see democracy is strengthening and that assemblies are doing well I will quit from the army chief’s post,” he said.

Some 1,500 Pakistanis, many of them doctors, investors and prominent businessmen, had come to the gathering.

He acknowledged there were questions as to when he should throw his uniform. “Why should I listen to that minority? The Punjab Assembly has passed a Bill in support of me to keep my uniform,” said Gen Musharraf, adding the majority was with him.

Referring to the LFO, he said the intention was honest and it was not aimed at prolonging his own rule. The LFO, he said, would create a check-and-balance system so that no one, not even any “impulsive power hungry general” could derail democracy.

He said it would strengthen institutions such as State Bank of Pakistan so that no one could challenge the autonomy of institutional chiefs such as the central bank’s governor.

Gen Musharraf said the LFO would ensure a vital role to be played by the National Security Council — comprising president, premier, opposition leader and services chiefs — in keeping the democratic system intact. He said he wanted the services chiefs on the NSC because it was better to keep them in than to keep them out.

He said he earlier wanted to introduce 60 amendments to the Constitution but after debate and consultation only 29 amendments were made part of the LFO.

He began his speech with foreign exchange reserves, which had jumped from $300 million three years ago to the existing $10.6 billion. “From two weeks of import reserves we now have one year of reserves,” he said.

He said Pakistan’s GDP growth rate of 5.1 per cent in 2002-03 was highest in South Asia and fourth in entire Asia.

Gen Musharraf said his government’s intention was to bring the percentage of debt servicing to only 25pc of the budget, adding Pakistan was now able to get loans at a very low rate of half a per cent to 1pc compared to 5-6pc three years ago.

He said when he came to power the country was in the Highly Indebted Countries category with a negative ratio of 350pc between foreign exchange reserves and earning against the normal 200- 250pc. “Today that ratio stands at just 140pc.”

He said when he came to power the tax revenues stood at Rs300 billion which had gone up to Rs460 billion. “Our stock exchange is now considered to be the best performing market in the world with index shooting up to 3,400 levels,” he pointed out.

The president said despite all such achievements people still asked him so what, what good work had been done for the poor. “My point of view is different. The government cannot open its cash banks to alleviate poverty,” he said.

He then spoke about what solid works the government was doing and mentioned projects such as expansion of the Mangla Dam and construction of Noorani and Katchi Canal. He said the Katchi Canal, which would cost Rs13 billion, would bring water to 713,000 acres of cotton land which might in turn produce 700,000 bales a year. This, he said, would fetch around $250 million in revenue... “now this is what I call real poverty alleviation instead of reducing prices of atta and, thus, cutting money for projects”.

Earlier on breakfast, the president had a frank discussion with Congresswoman Jane Harman, Mayor of Los Angeles James Hahn and around 125 key multinational executives.

The meeting was also attended by the Asia head of Coca-Cola, Sun Micro System, Microsoft and top executives from financial institutions and chamber of commerce.