Zardari will not seek another presidential term

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari says he will not seek another presidential term after his present five-year period expires in September, Xinhua reported Sunday.

Zardari made the remark in an interview with editors, which will be aired late Sunday night, according to a media report.

Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) faced defeat in the general elections in the centre and three provinces and has formed government only in southern Sindh province.

Speaking to TV anchors and newspaper editors in Islamabad, Zardari said the PPP would play a positive role in the incoming government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. 

The president said his party would unanimously support Sharif to be elected as prime minister as was done in the case of former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani of the PPP.

Zardari said Sharif would have to decide how to handle the cases of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who has been arrested in some cases and also faces high treason proceedings in the country's top court.

Musharraf has been arrested in connection with the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and keeping judges in illegal confinement when he had declared emergency rule in 2007.