Pakistan’s opposition geared up for a “black day” of protests after President Pervez Musharraf broke his promise to quit as army chief and accused his detractors of threatening democracy. Islamic parties and other groups plan to take to the streets on New Year’s Day after the general told the nation in a television and radio address late Thursday that he would not hang up his uniform. Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has set himself on a collision course with the vocal religious right by going back on a pledge he made a year ago to quit his military role by Friday. He accused the opposition, led by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Islamic alliance, of destabilising Pakistan by refusing to accept the “ruling of the majority”. Full Story