Pakistan ? President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will resign as army chief and restore civilian rule if lawmakers re-elect him president in a vote expected by mid-October, officials said Tuesday.

The government hailed the decision as a democratic watershed, but the opposition said it would be illegal for Musharraf to run in uniform and threatened a boycott of the vote that could prolong Pakistan’s political instability.

Government attorney Sharifuddin Pirzada announced Musharraf’s intent in a statement to Supreme Court judges deliberating the military leader’s eligibility to seek a new five-year term.

It was the first clear official statement that Musharraf was ready to end direct military rule since he seized control of the Islamic world’s only declared nuclear power in a coup eight years ago.