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THE
POLITICAL TURMOIL IN PAKISTAN -- NO
ONE BELIEVES THE GENERAL!! – ITS TAPS FOR MUSHARRAF RULE!! by MASOOD HAIDER: 10/9/2007
(MaximsNews.com,
U.N.)
UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com@
U.N./
- 10
September 2007 --
Hardly
anyone believes that a proposed
power-sharing
deal between former Pakistan Prime
Minister
Benazir Bhutto and President General Pervez
Musharraf
would work.
The
reason: The two are strong,
contrasting
personalities -- one a military dictator
and
the other a civilian democrat bearing the name of one of Pakistan's most prominent
politician -- Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Another
problem in Musharraf and Ms. Bhutto working
together
are the ground realities in Pakistan
where
the
people have completely lost confidence in the Army
and
now firmly believe it should return to barracks
one
and for all all.
For
General Musharraf a compromise with the leader of
Pakistan
People's Party, the country's biggest
political
party, became a necessity as his powerful
western
backers, including President Bush, want the
survival
of their closest ally in the war on terror at
any
cost.
The
American rescue effort began after Gen.
Musharraf
hit the slides in the wake of his
controversial
action in firing the Chief Justice of
the
Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Since
then anti-Musharraf drive, led by lawyers across
the
country, galvanized into a movement and public
sentiment
turned totally against the army.
Gen.
Musharraf
came to power in a popular coup ousting the
then
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's regime, which at
the
back of its 'heavy mandate' challenged the Supreme
Court
of Pakistan
and tried to introduce Shahriah laws
in Pakistan
through the so-called 15th Amendment.
On
Oct 11 1999, Sharif had fired Gen. Musharraf his
Chief
of Army Staff who was visiting Sri-Lanka and
prevented
his plane from landing in Pakistan.
Majority
of
Pakistani people and the political parties welcomed
Musharraf's
coup.
The
welcomers included Ms. Bhutto
who
was literally hounded out of the country by the
Sharif's
accountability Czar, Saifur
Rehman.
Public
sentiment against the politicians in
Pakistan
--
fueled by the intelligence services -- remained high but
as
the military-led government began to make mistakes
and
even unleashed a campaign of repression, the
people's
mood saw perceptible change.
The
dismissal
of
the chief justice was the last straw, and hence the
move
to woo Ms. Bhutto.
For
Ms Benazir Bhutto, striking a deal with the army
chief,
who consistently attempted to undermine her, is
fraught
with danger. She is already getting an earful
from
her party's stalwarts and other opposition
leaders.
She
is urging Musharraf to step down as military chief
and
drop corruption charges so she can come home and
compete
in parliamentary elections due by January.
In
return,
the U.S.-allied Musharraf gets to stay on for
another
five years as a civilian president, with
powers
over military and foreign policy.
But
joining hands with the unpopular general could
cost
the liberal opposition leader support and turn
her
audacious bid to win a third term as prime
minister
into a political suicide.
"For
the first time in the history of Pakistan, from
one
end to the other end of Pakistan, there's complete
unanimity:
No more dictatorship," a party leader
Ghulam
Mustafa Khar, once a PPP leader told a
newspaper.
"Now,
Benazir stands up and says, 'Stay, Musharraf,
stay!'
... That is something which is a nightmare for
the
people of
Pakistan," he said.
On
the other hand, Ms Bhutto maintains that joining
forces
will strengthen
Pakistan's efforts to combat
extremism
and prevent the kind of political chaos that
could
prompt another burst of martial law.
"I
am trying to convince (party colleagues) that the
international
community and the armed forces have
confidence
in Musharraf, and therefore we need to work
out
a solution" with him, she told The Washington Post
recently.
Ms
Bhutto also wants Gen. Musharraf to drop the
corruption
charges against her and scores of other
politicians,
including Nawaz Sharif, another former
premier
and fierce rival plotting a comeback.
Nawaz
Sharif is a political force to be reckoned with,
and
he could very upset any deal between Musharraf and
Ms.
Bhutto.
In
one of its first judgments last month,
the
newly independent-minded Supreme Court ruled that
Sharif,
who was overthrown in Musharraf's bloodless
1999
coup and went into exile in 2000, could return
home.
His
return on Sept. 14 could pose the biggest
political
challenge ever to president Musharraf.
Mr
Sharif is still popular in the Punjab, Pakistan's
most
populous and powerful province, and he still has
strong
standing in the military.
A
Bhutto-Musharraf deal, even if struck, means
nothing.
The
moment the president files his reelection
papers
in the next few days, anti-Musharraf protestors
--
as the lawyers have already done so -- will take to
the
streets. There will be country strikes and
demonstrations.
The
Supreme Court will take up the several petitions opposing his reelection. One
thing
would
lead to another, and the president could get
entangled
in host of difficulties. Already he is boxed
in.
What
the outcome of this grave political crisis
would
be is something even the most seasoned political
pundits
have failed to predict.
MasoodHaider@MaximsNews.com
Masood
Haider is the U.N. correspondent for The
Daily Dawn, the largest English daily newspaper of Pakistan, and he is the
past president of the United
Nations Correspondents Association.
He has
reported on New York and the United Nations since 1993 for The
Daily Dawn, published simultaneously
in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
He
served as president of the United
Nations Correspondents Association
(UNCA) in 2006, after being elected by journalists who report on the U.N.
from around the world.
Mr.
Haider started his journalistic career in 1970 as a
correspondent for the Eastern News Agency (ENA), the first East Pakistani news
agency and later the First Bangladeshi news agency.
He
later moved to The Morning News as a reporter until 1978 when he moved to the
United States.
In
1984 Mr. Haider became Chief Editor of a South Asian ethnic newspaper, Eastern
Times, which was published in New York.
From
1988 to 1989 he worked for The Muslim, Islamabad, and the following year for
The Frontier Post. He then worked with Academic File, a London based News
Agency. In 1993, he joined The
Daily Dawn.
Masood
Haider is a
Contributor to MaximsNews.com, An Independent Voice from the United Nations.
MasoodHaider@MaximsNews.com
Labels: United
Nations, U.N., Masood
Haider
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