Islamabad, June 11 (AP): Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in an interview that he expects President Pervez Musharraf to secure another five years in office this autumn despite continuing turmoil over his bid to fire the chief justice.

Aziz exuded confidence in the government and Musharraf’s leadership during the interview yesterday, playing down signs of a spread in Islamic extremism in the country and predicting this will be the first parliament in Pakistan’s history to finish its full five-year term.

Aziz said the country has been going through a period of economic growth and now has forex reserves of $15 billion (euro11.2 billion). “The whole nation hopes, and I’m sure President Musharraf wants, to stand for re-election. We are very sure he will contest and he will be elected for another term,” said Aziz.