President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to step down as chief of the military by mid-November has brought Pakistan closer to acceptability in the ranks of the 53-member Commonwealth, which has pressed the country to return to full democracy, its secretary-general said on Thursday.

But Don McKinnon warned that it might take up to a decade for Pakistanis to accept that the military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half its life as an independent state, is not an “alternative government”.