A ‘Designed Campaign’ to Unseat the President

[mujahideen]

A ‘Designed Campaign’ to Unseat the President

By Ahmed Quraishi
Islamabad, Pakistan

You don’t have to be paranoid to see that Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf has been up against a spectacular campaign to see him ousted from office.

First, there was the Pakistani version of the ‘Orange Revolution’ in the summer of 2007. It bore the classic signs of Western-organized coups in former Eastern bloc, complete with an aggressive media campaign and street mobilization. The Western media was churning out daily stories unanimously heralding Musharraf’s fall and calling him all kinds of names, from a dictator to a traitor in the war on terror.
Musharraf survived. The campaign failed. [See The Plan To Topple Pakistan Military, Nov. 2007.]
Now another media campaign is building up, trying to create a strong enough perception that Mr. Musharraf is falling, in the hope that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Check out these examples of media disinfomration: An unknown Indian news agency releases a report claiming Musharraf has agreed to restore a group of biased and deposed judges on the condition they leave him alone. Another example: The American media ‘misquotes’ three influential American senators as saying Musharraf should resign. And then the three senators, playing good cop, issue a denial.
There is a name for such coincidences. Some call it a conspiracy. Remember the staggering campaign of disinformation preceding the Iraq invasion?
“This is really unfair to the President,” says Rashid Qureshi, Musharraf’s spokesman. “This is beginning to look like a designed campaign.”
The big question is: How the man himself is dealing with this high level psychological warfare? A normal man would crumble under similar circumstances.
Musharraf’s aide, Qureshi, who sees him everyday, says the Pakistani president has a nice way of dealing with targeted campaigns.
“Since he does not take any of this to heart, it has no effect on his morale whatsoever,” Qureshi, a retired Major General, told me recently.
He says his boss has connections to the Pakistani military, the bureaucracy and the political elite. Musharraf, he says, is the perfect man to ensure a smooth sailing for democracy in Pakistan without fatal hiccups.
“They will show wisdom,” says Qureshi, referring to Pakistani politicians, “if they understand that they will not find a bridge, and an umbrella, for Pakistan, for Pakistan’s progress and for Pakistan moving forward like President Musharraf.”
Mr. Qureshi says the Presidency has a “great capacity to absorb” Mr. Nawaz Sharif’s criticism.
“It is important to remember that almost 80 percent of the vote went to political parties that want to work with President Musharraf. So it’s not true that the President is under pressure,” Qureshi said.
Any chance of the President calling it a day before completing his five-year term in office as the President of Pakistan?
“I do not see the President not completing his five-year term.”
THE INTERVIEW
Ahmed Quraishi: If you read Senator Joseph Biden’s statement you get the impression than now even Washington is calling for a safe exit for Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf and that the Pakistani president should not complete his five-year term and should instead cut it short and resign.
Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi: Ahmed, this is absolutely false. It looks now as if an impression is being created or a pressure is being built to somehow convince people in Pakistan and the world that pressure is building up [against] President Musharraf. People who have clarity of thought, and there are many who do, despite the deliberate attempts to confuse, know that these elections were a contest between political parties and politicians. Some of them won and some of them lost. This was not an election to elect a president. So how can a group of them, who won only 15 to 20 percent of the vote, put pressure on the president to quit? These people abhor American interference in Pakistani affairs but when someone in America says Musharraf should go, they welcome it.
AQ: So what did Sen. Biden really mean when he talked about a safe exit for our President?
RQ: He did not say anything like that. He issued an immediate denial and said he never called on the Pakistani leader to step down. [Quoting from a paper in front of him] Biden talking about the President, has said, “I have been reported to have said that I called on [Musharraf] to step down. This is totally wrong. The Pakistani leader made it clear to [a Senators Joseph Biden, John Kerry, Chuck Hagel] that he understands his role as a President” and that “the parties should look forward and not backwards” and that “none of us called for him to resign.
AQ: So someone has deliberately misquoted Mr. Biden’s statement to create confusion. What you are saying in effect is this: There is a deliberate attempt to divert focus from the new government in Pakistan to the president and create unrest so that he is forced to step down.
RQ: Exactly. And I think, since we have been watching all this for quite some time now, this is beginning to look like a designed campaign to me. Media is being used to create an impression as if this was a presidential election that President Musharraf lost.
AQ: Coincidently, a story is out that says President Musharraf has become so weak that he’s told PPP’s Asif Ali Zardari he accepts the restoration of the deposed judges on the condition they don’t reopen cases against him …
RQ: Absolutely false. And I am sorry to say that there is a Pakistani wire service, Online, that has quoted an Indian news agency that released this story. This is an outrageously fabricated news item …
AQ: But the story mentions names, it says President Musharraf has conveyed this to Mr. Zardari and asked him to pass the idea on to other politicians …
RQ: [Smiling] … and some Pakistani newspapers ran the story on their front pages. No, there is no truth in all of this. In fact, I think someone in the PPP has even denied receiving any such idea. I think this is really unfair to the President. All they had to do is to pick up the phone and give me a call and confirm the report. That’s journalistic ethic.
AQ: But you see that would have killed the story because you would have told them the truth and that’s really not fashionable right now. Musharraf-bashing is more fashionable if you’re in the media [laughs]. Okay, tell about the man himself. You meet him everyday. How is his morale these days?
RQ: Since he does not take any of this to heart, it has no effect on his morale whatsoever. Some people say he is not in the news, but political parties have won the election and since none of them has an absolute majority, they are all busy in coalition building, and the President has no role in it. That’s why I say there appears to be a plan that is being followed and they are using the media for this to show that the President is the issue and they are spreading this impression across Pakistan.
AQ: At some point President Musharraf has to retire. He has this five-year term as President. The question now is whether he would retire when he completes this term or is there a chance he might call it a day before completing his term in office?
RQ: Everyone in the world has to retire. And everyone knows a time comes when one says to himself I have given it all I can. And let me tell you something about President Musharraf, for Pakistan he is willing to go till the end. And he is doing it. However, as you have said, a time comes when you call it quits. The President has been elected for a five-year term. I do not see the President not completing his five-year term.
AQ: There is talk about clipping the presidential powers. We need to have stability at the top tiers of the Pakistani government, especially within the so-called ‘troika’ — the president, the prime minister, and the army chief. I know it’s not very fashionable to say this, but President Musharraf has a military background and he has political experience now. Could he be the ideal person to lead in this transitional period?
RQ: Ahmed, if someone asks my personal opinion, and if someone wants to listen to a sensible advice, all the Pakistani political parties and political leaders, they will show wisdom if they understand that they will not find a bridge, and an umbrella, for Pakistan, for Pakistan’s progress and for Pakistan moving forward like President Musharraf. I can’t see anyone in Pakistan capable of playing this role.
AQ: About Mr. Nawaz Sharif. It’s good to see him going along with all the parties in the effort to build a ruling coalition. But he seems to be showing no flexibility whatsoever toward the President. In fact, he is using the harshest words possible. What’s the reaction in the Presidency?
RQ: Frankly, the Presidential Camp has a great capacity to absorb, for the sake of the homeland. 15 to 20 percent of the voters did vote for Mr. Nawaz Sharif’s party, which is a great thing. Everyone has his own opinion but when this one opinion begins to create disturbance for the homeland’s progress, one should ask himself am I doing the right thing or not. It is also important to remember that almost 80 percent of the vote went to political parties that want to work with President Musharraf. So it’s not true that the President is under pressure
AQ: Or that there is a popular mandate to unseat the President?
RQ: There is no such mandate. In fact, the party winning the largest votes and all the other parties, frankly, less Mr. Nawaz Sharif, we have heard them openly say they are ready to work with President Musharraf for the next five years.
AQ: About the Presidential powers. Some people want these powers reduced because they say ours is a parliamentary democracy. I am biased in favor of the presidential system. Do you think these presidential powers need to be clipped?
RQ: The President has already addressed this. He’s absolutely clear that the elected people in the parties will form the government. And they will run the government. There is no friction here between the President’s office and the Prime Minister’s office and there is no overlap of responsibility and so there is no friction and the President is very clear on this. The prime minister will be doing whatever is in Pakistan’s interest and he will definitely be helped by the President.

(The interview was aired on Saturday, March 1, 2008, on Worldview From Islamabad, hosted by Ahmed Quraishi forPTV News)

 

[batmannow]

A very good job done ,by you mr, mujahadeen, at last there is someone trying to open MUSHARAF side. i guss musharaf needs people like you to fight all these media wars.

 

[fatman17]

A very good job done ,by you mr, mujahadeen, at last there is someone trying to open MUSHARAF side. i guss musharaf needs people like you to fight all these media wars.

as much as i want the president to survive this crisis, it looks more and more that he will have to resign. he is cornered. the military (read CoAS) may be supporting him for the time being but when push comes to shove (read survival of pakistan v. the survival of the president) then the army will do whats right.

 

[mujahideen]

Musharraf’s presidency illegal: Nawaz

BHURBAN: PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif said on Sunday that his party considered President Pervez Musharraf’s presidency “unconstitutional and illegal”. “We cannot compromise on our eight-year struggle,” he said to a question at a joint press conference following talks with the PPP. Nawaz Sharif said the parliament would discuss the War on Terror to formulate a national consensus policy. The parliament would be supreme, he said, and would make all decisions including those on the foreign policy. Asked whether the PML-N would support a resolution demanding an apology for the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he said: “We will not embarrass each other on any issue.” “We have achieved a great objective today,” he said. “We had to do certain things against our will.”

staff report/agencies
Courtesy Daily Times

 

[mujahideen]

Zardari hopes to work with Musharraf

BHURBAN: PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday that his party’s final decision on a candidate for prime minister would be made “slowly and gradually”. He was responding to a question about the delay in his party’s announcement of a candidate for prime minister, during a joint press conference with the PML-N after the two parties signed a power-sharing deal. To a question on the coalition’s strategy towards President Pervez Musharraf, he said: “We don’t believe in personal agenda ... We are hoping that everybody will work together in harmony,”. “There should be a broad-based strategy,” Zardari said to a question on the restoration of sacked judges. He said everyone would be “accommodated”. Zardari said the government would undo the controversial PEMRA laws.

staff report/agencies
Courtesy Daily Times

 

[mujahideen]

Moment of truth for President Musharraf

By Raja Asghar

ISLAMABAD, March 9: A vow by the Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N on Sunday to restore about 60 deposed judges of the superior courts through a parliamentary resolution poses a new, and very serious, challenge to President Pervez Musharraf, as the two parties seem close to taking power under a man they don’t like.

It was after some dithering that the top leaders of the two rivals-turned-allies swapped concessions in the cool clime of Murree hills to send a harassing message to an isolated president that promises a hot spring for him and a tense post-election transition.

The PML-N agreed to be part of a PPP-led federal cabinet and possibly allow its ministers to be administered oath by a president the party does not recognise as legitimate apparently in return for the PPP’s agreement to set a deadline for the restoration of the pre-Nov 3, 2007, judiciary through a resolution “to be passed by the National Assembly within 30 days of the formation of the federal government”.

The decision taken in talks between PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zadari and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif in Murree is bound to worry Mr Musharraf who has made it clear he will not countenance the restoration of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and his sacked colleagues in the Supreme Court and the four provincial high courts who could reopen legal challenges to his presidency that were blocked by the Nov 3 emergency.

The PPP-PML-N pledge to do it come what may will mean a direct confrontation between a popular coalition government and a president who, after giving up his army uniform and suffering a huge loss in public rating, has little to fall back upon except his defeated loyalists and the controversial constitutional powers he still wields but which both his opponents and some supporters want to clip.

A debate is likely to heat up across the country over whether a mere National Assembly resolution can restore the judges who lost their jobs for refusing or not being called to take the oath under a Provisional Constitution Order issued with the proclamation of the state of emergency that Mr Musharraf declared on Nov 3, 2007, in his now-abandoned capacity of the chief of the army staff.

The present caretaker government and its legal brains argue that the Nov 3 emergency and the PCO, upheld by a post-PCO Supreme Court, are protected by constitutional amendments the president had decreed before lifting the emergency and, therefore, cannot be overturned without another constitutional amendment, which must be passed by two-thirds majorities in each of the two houses of parliament.

But the leaders of an agitating legal community, including Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan, think the judges were sacked by then army chief without any constitutional authority and in defiance of an anti-PCO ruling given by a pre-PCO Supreme Court bench hours before the proclamation of emergency mainly to avoid an adverse ruling by a Supreme Court bench about his candidacy for the president, and that all of them can be restored to their positions by a simple executive order.

The PPP had promised before and after the Feb 18 elections that the question of the deposed judges as well as of the independence of judiciary would be decided in parliament. But now a compromise seems to have been found to restore the judges as the first step towards an independent judiciary through a resolution of the lower house, whose passage will be a certainty with the PPP, PML-N, their coalition partner Awami National Party and other opposition groupings such as the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal already having a two-thirds majority in the 342-seat house.

It is yet to be seen how legal experts of the coalition find ways to translate a resolution into reality and what fate awaits the present Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar and all those appointed to the Supreme Court and the four high courts to fill vacancies caused by the PCO.

CAN PRESIDENT BLOCK IT? While it may be more than a week before a new government takes office and then there will be a full one month for the National Assembly to pass a restoration resolution for judges, a question mark remains about whether the president will try to stop the move or to acquiesce to risk his office.

A restored Supreme Court could reopen the challenges posed to his presidential election in October, 2007, from a dying parliamentary electoral college while he was still in army uniform.

While he is left with little power of bargaining with his victorious opponents and his supporters are now only a dejected minority in the National Assembly, any move to go to his own hand-picked judiciary for help is bound to evoke more resistance from a charged legal community which will no longer face police batons and tear-gassing for protests.

And a resort to the extreme measure of using article 58(2)b to dissolve the National Assembly so soon after the elections can be more disastrous for the president and create a political storm with unimaginable consequences.

Moment of truth for President Musharraf -DAWN - Top Stories; March 10, 2008

 

[mujahideen]

Free judiciary and Musharraf can’t co-exist, say lawyers

By Saleem Shahid

QUETTA, March 9: Lawyers across the country launched a “black flag week” to press their demand for reinstatement of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and other judges. They hoisted black flags over bar offices and organised seminars criticising the government for its refusal to release the judges.

Addressing members of the Balochistan Bar Association and a seminar in Quetta, former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed said the week would strengthen the hands of the newly-elected members of the National Assembly.

He said lawyers did not want a confrontation with parliament.

Justice Wajih hoisted a black flag on the building of the Quetta sessions court to mark the beginning of the week in Balochistan.

He said the lawyers’ movement would be suspended for a few days to give time to parliament to resolve the issue but the protest would resume if it failed to reinstate the judges.

He said an independent judiciary and President Pervez Musharraf could not co-exist. He said Gen (retd) Musharraf should step down or face impeachment by parliament.

He said that the rule of law could not be established without an independent judiciary.

Criticising the government for not convening national and provincial assemblies’ sessions, he said the delay might lead to a crisis.

He said the nation had been deprived of its basic rights for 60 years because there was no independent judiciary.

Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai said the country was still under martial law and called for a joint struggle by all political forces to get rid of dictatorship.

Speaking at the seminar, he said there was a need to eliminate the role of army and intelligence agencies in politics.

He claimed that Pakistan was the only country in the world where the establishment ‘invented’ leaders and institutionalised corruption. He alleged that some institutions of the country were actively trying to sideline popular leaders and induct unpopular people into governments.

Ali Ahmed Kurd said that lawyers would continue their struggle till judiciary was restored to its pre-Nov 3 status.

In Islamabad, police resorted to heavy teargas shelling to stop lawyers and civil society activists from proceeding to the residence of Justice Iftikhar during a demonstration staged to mark the first anniversary of the unfolding of the judicial crisis.

Free judiciary and Musharraf can’t co-exist, say lawyers -DAWN - Top Stories; March 10, 2008

 

[mujahideen]

Deal may spell bad news for Musharraf

By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Karachi

The decision on Sunday by Pakistan's major political parties to come together is likely to have far-reaching consequences for the volatile South Asian nation.

The PPP and PML-N political parties, which won the highest and second highest number of seats respectively in February's elections, have signed an agreement to form the next national government.

The deal comes after weeks of protracted negotiations between the two sides over the last few weeks.

It includes an agreement to restore to office the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule in November 2007.

Initially, it seemed that the differences between the two sides were unbridgeable.

Musharraf's future

PPP head Asif Ali Zardari - the widower of the party's previous head, Benazir Bhutto - had expressed his willingness to work with President Musharraf.

Mrs Bhutto, and the PPP, made a triumphant return to the centre stage of Pakistani politics last year after seven years on the sidelines.

Mrs Bhutto was subsequently assassinated in a gun and bomb attack in December 2007.

Although her party leadership, including Mr Zardari, said the government held primary responsibility for her death, they did not rule out working with him.

That is at odds with the position of their new coalition partners, the PML-N, headed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Mr Sharif's PML-N has always maintained it does not recognise Mr Musharraf as president and has termed his rule "illegitimate".

Mr Musharraf - then General Musharraf, chief of the country's powerful army - overthrew Mr Sharif and seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

The deposed premier, along with his entire family, was subsequently forced into exile.

From that time President Musharraf has seen Mr Sharif as his arch-nemesis.

Kingmaker

Since his return as part of internationally brokered political repatriations in 2007, the former prime minster has proven as much.

The PML-N's electoral success, which went far beyond pundits' expectations, has enabled Mr Sharif to push his two-point agenda - securing the restoration of sacked judges, and seeing Mr Musharraf out of the presidency - with much greater force.

"The fact is they control the Punjab, and without the Punjab there is no federal government," an analyst points out.

Control of Pakistan's largest province - and its political heartland - has helped propel the PML-N into its enviable position of kingmaker.

The PPP, with the largest overall number of seats in the country, remains the first and strongest claimant to the country's federal throne.

But as the party failed to get a clear majority, it still needs one or more partners to form the government at the centre.

Need for unity

Most analysts' pre-poll predictions gave the highest number of seats to the PPP, followed by the then ruling PML-Q party, allies of President Musharraf.

The "Q" doing well in the election was deemed critical for President Musharraf's survival.

But the party was routed in the Punjab, its supposed stronghold, and it ended up as the third largest party by some distance.

"Even if the PPP had won by a majority, Mr Zardari had maintained his party wanted to bring all the major parties on board," another political observer points out.

This was deemed necessary to combat the threat the country faced due to the rise of extremist forces and growing power of the militants in the North West Frontier Province.

But bringing the PML-N on board meant effectively having to accommodate its demands over the judges and their determined stance on the illegitimacy of President Musharraf's rule.

"That was deemed impossible as President Musharraf retained the support of key Western governments, as he was deemed an indispensable ally in the war on terror," offers a former diplomat.

"The international community had made it clear to the PPP leadership that he would have to be kept part of the power equation."

This led to the protracted negotiations in which the PPP leadership tried to convince the PML-N in vain to give up their stance on "the president issue".

Refusal to budge

During this time, President Musharraf's camp tried to bring the PPP together with the PML-Q and the smaller parties in parliament.

But such a scenario was largely unappealing to the former, as it would have meant an openly hostile PML-N in command of the Punjab.

Meanwhile the kingmakers remained true to their demands and refused to budge on either of the issues.

"They are our central campaign promises," a PML-N leader told the BBC a week ago.

"If we pull back on them, what kind of credibility will we have left with public?"

It was this unequivocal insistence on their part which was the main reason behind 9 March's historic decision.

Insiders say a recent pullback by the international community from its unconditional support of Musharraf was also a factor.

Honourable exit?

They maintain it remains to be seen whether the coalition will be a lasting one, as it has several ideological barriers to surmount.

But they also say it effectively means the end of President Musharraf's rule in Pakistan.

A parliament, many of whose members have suffered imprisonment and worse during his rule, now waits to decide his fate.

Even if they deem it constitutional to pass the issue on to the restored judges, the outcome is unlikely to be any different.

"President Musharraf can still choose a somewhat honourable exit and resign in coming weeks," says an analyst.

"The alternative is to put himself through the humiliation of impeachment, and even imprisonment for overthrowing Mr Sharif's government."

 

[mujahideen]

Musharraf not to use 58 (2b)

ISLAMABAD, Mar 10 (APP): President Pervez Musharraf has scoffed at speculation that he would attempt to derail the results of Feb. 18 elections by using his constitutional powers to dismiss parliament, or not call parliament into session. “You think someone who has spent his entire adult life defending Pakistan and the past eight years trying to put democracy back on track wants to see the government fail and the country return to political anarchy? “No. I’m committed to making this work,” he said in an interview with an American newspaper Washington Times on Monday.

Under article 58 (2b) of the constitution, the president has power to dismiss the National Assembly.

He said political stability is his top priority and that a war between the presidency and the newly elected parliament would not be in national interest.

“I’m looking forward to working with this government for full five years,” Musharraf said.

“Even my harshest critics have agreed that the recent elections were free and fair. Now, I want to build on that.”

Casually dressed in an open-collar shirt, when asked about pressure to step down, President Musharraf replied:

“The elections clearly pointed out that the Pakistan Peoples Party currently enjoys the highest percentage of the people’s confidence, no question. Reading more into it than that is risky.”

He listed his three top priorities: political stability, the continuation of country’s economic development and success in the war on terrorism.

“You’ll notice that I listed political stability first, because without that, you cannot have the other two,” he said.

“Can you imagine what the effect would be on the business community, both foreign and domestic, or in the capitals of nations allied with us in the war on terror if the first thing they saw after this election was a political war between the presidency and the government? I think it would be catastrophic.”

He was asked to reflect on his past eight years in power.

“Obviously, the economy is in far better condition than it was when I first took office. That didn’t happen by accident. I think I made some very sound appointments, and the people I appointed did quite well.

“I’m also proud of what has been done to expand the role of women in politics. There are now 60 seats reserved for women in the National Assembly. Those seats, added to those won by women on party tickets, give women a strong say in legislative affairs.

“And, of course, I’m proud of the way the recent elections were conducted.”

Turning to things that could have been done better, he said he didn’t always do a good job of explaining exactly what he was doing and why.

“But I’m not certain it would have made that much difference if I had,” he said. “I think that a number of people in the media could never see past the uniform.”

app - Musharraf not to use 58 (2b)

 

[mujahideen]

War between presidency and parliament to be catastrophic: Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview that political stability is his top priority and that a war between the presidency and the newly elected parliament would be catastrophic.

"I'm looking forward to working with this government for the full five years," Mr. Musharraf said. "Even my harshest critics have agreed that the recent elections were free and fair. Now, I want to build on that."

The atmosphere was informal, at times interrupted with light banter and laughter as Mr. Musharraf sat with several aides during interview.

Casually dressed in an open-collar shirt, Mr. Musharraf scoffed at speculation in the press that he would attempt to derail the results of Feb. 18 elections by using his constitutional powers to dismiss parliament, or not call parliament into session.

"You think someone who has spent his entire adult life defending Pakistan and the past eight years trying to put democracy back on track wants to see the government fail and the country return to political anarchy?

"No. I'm committed to making this work."

Mr. Musharraf's political future looked uncertain when PPP and PML-N, the two leading parties agreed to form a coalition government that would reinstate dozens of judges, who were ousted by Mr. Musharraf under a Nov. 3declaration of emergency rule.

War between presidency and parliament to be catastrophic: Musharraf

 

[mujahideen]

Musharraf unlikely to quit, says Azeem

ISLAMABAD, March 10: It “does not look like” President Pervez Musharraf will quit if the incoming coalition restores the deposed judges, former minister of state for information Tariq Azeem has said.

But it was “difficult to predict what will transpire after they put into operation their proposal (to reinstate the judges),” Mr Azeem told AFP on Monday.

“Now the question is that how can it be done, through a parliamentary resolution, simple majority or a two-thirds majority. It is a legal issue basically,” he said.

“The president has said all along that he will abide by Supreme Court rulings and parliamentary decisions. If there is a dispute it can be challenged in court as opinion is divided on the issue,” he said.—AFP

Musharraf unlikely to quit, says Azeem -DAWN - Top Stories; March 11, 2008

 

[mujahideen]

Musharraf outnumbered for possibly his last battle

By Simon Cameron-Moore - Analysis

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Politically isolated, unloved by his people and no longer in command of the army, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf faces a battle for survival once his foes unite on the floor of the National Assembly next week.

An incoming coalition government aims to reinstate the Supreme Court judges Musharraf dismissed last November before they could sack him, in the first salvo of a face-off with a president who came to power as a general in a coup in 1999.

"I think the die has been cast," said independent analyst Nasim Zehra.

"Pakistan continues to move ahead on an irreversible path towards constitutional democracy."

Musharraf has called on the new National Assembly to convene next Monday following weeks of coalition building by the victors of a February 18 poll.

Asif Ali Zardari, the late Benazir Bhutto's husband, and Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf deposed, agreed on Sunday to form a coalition and bring back the judges.

It is the first time Pakistan's two main parties have united. Together with smaller allies, they can almost muster the two-thirds majority needed to impeach Musharraf if they want.

Zehra anticipates resistance to moves to restore the judiciary, but Musharraf lacks both political and constitutional ammunition to mount a viable defence.

He has presidential powers to dismiss the government, but analysts say using them would lead to street agitation.

With a showdown looming, Pakistanis are asking how much longer Musharraf can last.

The assessment in Islamabad's diplomatic circles is that it will be game over soon for a U.S. ally who became a spent force after giving up his role as army chief last November.

Western allies and regional neighbors have been worried about the potential for instability in a nuclear-armed state, under attack from within by militants inspired by al Qaeda.

DESTABILISING FACTOR

Musharraf has been unable to convince people to support a U.S.-led war on terrorism, and they're unhappy with the hardships that have accompanied economic growth he's overseen.

Moreover, analysts say, he created a political mess by distorting the constitution and destroying the judiciary in order to keep the presidency.

He invoked emergency rule on November 3 for six weeks to purge a Supreme Court that might have annulled his re-election while army chief by a subservient parliament in the last days of its term.

Shafqat Mahmood, a former cabinet minister turned analyst, said Musharraf should bow to the incoming coalition's mandate rather than destabilize it by fighting against its wishes.

"I think we had almost a historic accord in which the major political forces have come together and there is a promise of a stable government," said Mahmood. "I think that's why Musharraf has to give up now."

Most analysts hope Musharraf recognizes his isolation, and opts to negotiate safe passage into retirement.

Ijaz Shafi Gilani, the chairman of pollster Gallup Pakistan, reckons Musharraf's resignation could be imminent.

"I still feel it's a matter of days or weeks," he said.

Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani last week spelt out that he wanted to keep the military out of politics, increasing doubts whether the army would go out on a limb to back Musharraf against an elected government.

The U.S. administration, which has been one of Musharraf's main supporters, also struck a neutral tone last week.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte omitted the usual praise for Musharraf in testimony to a Senate committee, substituting it with the impersonal assertion that Pakistan was "indispensable".

"The weaker he gets the less use he can be," said one Western observer in Islamabad, who declined to be identified.

POTENTIAL COMPROMISE

Yet investors in a Pakistani stock market that, despite everything, has bucked regional trends to post gains this year remain optimistic, mostly out of belief the army and the United States will make sure any confrontation between the president and parliament is short-lived.

The new government needs to address a deteriorating security situation, rising inflation, widening fiscal and current account deficits, and breathe life into a peace process with India.

Najam Sethi a top political analyst and editor of the Daily Times, expects battles ahead, and foresees Musharraf's foes testing his resolve to stay on.

But he cautioned against prematurely predicting the end of the Musharraf era, as parliament could work out a compromise as Zardari is less keen on a fight with Musharraf than Sharif.

Even if Musharraf avoids an early exit, his powers are likely to be clipped and his role reduced to that of a figurehead.

Musharraf's loyalists hope the election victors will quickly fall out. It could well happen, given their old enmity, but most analysts believe Musharraf will go first.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence and Alex Richardson)

 

[mujahideen]

US lawmaker warns against impeaching Musharraf

LAHORE: Impeaching President Pervez Musharraf could destablise Pakistan and postpone work required to establish an independent judiciary, crack down on terrorists and jumpstart development, according to an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a US senator who recently visited Pakistan, notes that the country would be a stronger ally in the war on terror if there is a legitimate democratic government. Hutchison says that Pakistan’s ability to fight terrorism is weakened by the fragility of its constitutional order and “the impotence of its governing institutions”, adding that terrorists thrive when the government is seen as illegitimate by its people. Noting that all of Pakistan’s leaders are flawed, Hutchison says that they all — Asif Ali Zardari, Pervez Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif — have “redeeming qualities”. However, she expresses concern that the new coalition’s plan to reduce military operations against terrorists might mean that Pakistan’s efforts could slacken. She says that shifting the emphasis to helping the population with security and running water is fundamental to ending extremism. Hutchison says that the US will support Pakistan’s leaders as long as they support democracy. She says that a secular and democratic government, with US help, could turn Pakistan into an effective counter-terrorism force. daily times monitor

Courtesy Daily Times

 

[mujahideen]

Impeachment could move up on agenda

By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf may move to the top of the new PPP-PML-N government's agenda, even putting the restoration of the deposed judges behind if the "disturbing signals" from the Presidency do not stop, credible sources in both parties say.

Although, both the main political parties are holding their cards close to their chests and strongly deny that there is any such thing under consideration, sources do confirm that some post-Bhurban statements and meetings of the retired general have raised eyebrows amongst the leaders of the two parties.

Farhatullah Babar, the PPP spokesperson when contacted, said the impeachment of the president was neither under consideration of the party nor a "top priority". He said such a question would only be raised once the new parliament met and determined what kind of relationship it wanted to have with the Presidency.

Babar said the top priority of his party was to bring peace in the country by checking the deteriorating law and order situation. Price-hike is yet another concern that, he said, the party wanted to address on a priority basis.

Ahsan Iqbal, the PML-N media manager, when contacted also said the impeachment of the president was not in sight. He wondered after the restoration of the deposed judges, would there be a need to impeach the president.

"We did not discuss the question of president's impeachment," Ahsan Iqbal said, adding many things would become clear only after the swearing-in of the new government. Sources, including some of the party leaders from both sides who attended the March 9 meeting at Murree, confirmed that the two leaders in the company of their aides did not touch the question of the president's impeachment.

But both Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif had a one-on-one meeting for 90 minutes the same day. It is believed that the two leaders perhaps did not share with their leaders what they had discussed in their meeting. There is, however, no confirmation if the issue of impeachment had come under discussion between the two.

Sources in these parties, however, said the parties were really concerned over the president's statement that the war between the Presidency and parliament would be disastrous. The Presidency's signals that it does not approve of the decision by the two parties to restore the deposed judges without constitutional amendment and through a resolution or an executive order, also did not go down well with the top leaders of the two sides.

A source said: "If we see the president in a confrontation mood vis-à-vis parliament, then we might have to consider this (impeachment) as an immediate option." But this source did say that the issue had not been discussed as yet.

While there are some questions being raised if the PPP-PML(N)-ANP coalition does enjoy the required two-thirds majority in both the houses, it has already been reported that these coalition partners and their likeminded parties had already clinched more than the magic tally of two-thirds majority in the National Assembly.

However, for the moment all these winning parties do not have the two-thirds majority in the Senate, where the PML-Q has a simple majority. But since the continuation of the PML-Q lot with its party seems impossible in the changed situation, most of its senators are likely to switch to the PML-N, enabling the victorious parties to get the two-thirds majority in the Upper House as well. Already several had already joined the forward bloc announced by Nilofer Bakhtiar.

A two-thirds majority of the joint sitting of the Senate and the National Assembly is required to remove the president of Pakistan through an impeachment motion on the charge of violating the Constitution or gross misconduct. However, there is no precedent in the country's history when a president was impeached leading to his removal by parliament.

Impeachment could move up on agenda

 

[mujahideen]

President cannot call or order Army

By our correspondent

ISLAMABAD: The president has no power to call the Army to protect any state institution and the prerogative solely rests with the chief executive, i.e. the prime minister, PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal has said. "The president is a symbolic supreme commander of the armed forces and can't exercise any powers independently," he told The News.-

He was asked to comment on a report doing rounds in different circles that President Pervez Musharraf might call the Army if the next government tried to forcibly install the deposed judges in the wake of approval of a resolution by the National Assembly.

Ahsan Iqbal said if the president wanted to summon the Army to guard any state institution, he was required to send such a recommendation to the prime minister, who was supposed to take action on it in any manner.

He said the Supreme Court could also request the prime minister to call the Army for its protection. “It can't summon the military on its own.” The PML-N leader said when former chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah wrote a letter to the then chief of the Army staff, Jahangir Karamat, in 1998 to come to the aid of the apex court, the top commander had forwarded the request to the prime minister and had not taken any action independently.

That was the time when the confrontation between premier Nawaz Sharif and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was at its peak. The rumour has it that Musharraf in his capacity as the Supreme Commander of the armed forces may call the Army if the next government attempts to take the deposed judges to their courts after the passage of the parliamentary resolution.

The president has repeatedly made it clear that the judges could be restored only through a constitutional amendment and not on the force of a resolution or change in the laws. Police and other law enforcement agencies are always under the direct control of the prime minister and take orders from him. The president has no authority to issue any directives to them. Being the chief executive of the country, all state institutions come under his control and authority.

President cannot call or order Army