Musharraf appoints army successor
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has named his successor to take over as army chief, the military says.
The appointee is former head of intelligence Lt Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiani, military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad told the BBC.
Gen Musharraf will resign as head of the army if he wins presidential elections on Saturday, his lawyers say.
Opposition parties say his candidacy is illegal and that he has broken previous promises to resign as army chief.
The general headed Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence agency from 2004 until last month.
He took part in secret talks recently on a possible power sharing deal between President Musharraf and former PM Benazir Bhutto.
Boycott
News of the appointment came as more than 80 opposition MPs resigned from Pakistan's national parliament in protest at Saturday's presidential election.
They insist that President Pervez Musharraf is ineligible to stand.
Meanwhile two rival candidates for Saturday's election have filed fresh petitions in the Supreme Court against Gen Musharraf's candidacy.
Last Friday the court dismissed a number of petitions, in a move seen as a major victory for the president.
The president is elected by MPs from the national assembly and Pakistan's four provincial assemblies.
Correspondents say that the resignations make it even more certain that Gen Musharraf will win the vote.
The 86 MPs who resigned on Tuesday were drawn mainly from an alliance of Islamic parties, the MMA, and from the PML-N party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
"We are handing over the resignations today because we consider the election of the president is illegal and unconstitutional," one leading MP, Liaquat Baloch, said, the AFP news agency reports.
The MPs hope the resignations will make the presidential election be seen to be meaningless.
"This is the first step to discredit the election process," another MP, former cricket star Imran Khan, said.
The country's biggest party is the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. It is not taking part in the boycott.
The petitions filed by lawyers representing two candidates standing against President Musharraf, retired Judge Wajihuddin Ahmed and Makhdoom Amin - vice chairman of the PPP - say that the president is not eligible to stand while also remaining head of the army.
KEY DATES
06 Oct: Presidential vote to be held, election commission says
18 Oct: Date ex-PM Benazir Bhutto has set for her homecoming
15 Nov: Parliamentary term ends and general election must be held
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