President George W. Bush with President Pervez Musharaf in New York. (AFP)

Karachi, Sept. 22 (Reuters): An influential Pakistan provincial government today backed President Pervez Musharraf to stay on as army chief after he gave strong signals that he will break a promise to take off his uniform by year-end.

The Sindh Assembly?s ruling coalition voted in favour of him holding the presidency and the post of army chief in the interest of ?national security?, becoming the second of Pakistan?s four provinces to back Musharraf.

Karachi, Pakistan?s main port and commercial hub, is the capital of Sindh.

Musharraf, who is in the US this week where he will meet President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has said he is still undecided but justified why he might go back on his word during interviews with US media.

Critically, he said shedding his uniform could undermine his authority in pressing home a war against terror in Pakistan. ?Yes, I did give my word that I would,? Musharraf told the New York Times in an interview published a day earlier, referring to a deal made last year with Islamist opposition parties to give him sweeping powers in return for a switch to civilian rule by December 31.

?...But the issue is now far greater than this,? said Musharraf, who narrowly survived two al Qaida-inspired assassination attempts last December. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz escaped a suicide bomb attack in July.

Pakistani commentators and diplomats say there is little doubt Musharraf will remain as army chief.

He already has the support of the Punjab assembly, the country?s most powerful provincial legislature.

But the Islamist-led government in the North West Frontier Province has vowed not to support him, while the government in Baluchistan, Pakistan?s fourth province, is undecided.

A crackdown on militancy intensified in the wake of the assassination attempts, and the army undertook an unpopular offensive in the semi-autonomous tribal regions on Pakistan?s north-west frontier with Afghanistan, where al Qaida militants and possibly al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, are hiding out.

Musharraf?s decision to side with Bush?s war on terror following al Qaida?s September 11, 2001, attacks on the US has angered Islamic militants, triggering a wave of suicide bombings against Western targets in the country.

He has also risked the wrath of jihadi groups fighting to oust India from Kashmir, by embarking on peace talks with New Delhi.

Diplomats say Musharraf will possess more leverage on both initiatives if he keeps his uniform. They say he would gain credibility if he stood by his word but in the long term risks losing room for manoeuvre if he transforms himself into a civilian leader and head of a political party by the time parliamentary and presidential elections fall due in 2007.