In the event of a coup, will stand by army: Musharraf

[z9-ec]

In the event of a coup, will stand by army: Musharraf


NEW DELHI: Former president and chief of the All Pakistan Muslim League General Pervez Musharraf says that he is “reasonably sure” that the military will not resort to a coup but will support the army if it takes over.

“I don’t think the army intends to take over. The environment is not at all conducive for the army to do so. I think the army understands that,” Musharraf told Indian journalist Karan Thapar at CNN-IBN’s show “Devil’s Advocate”.

But in the event of a choice between the civilian government or the military, Musharraf categorically stated he will side with the institution that he served until he shed the uniform to become the president of Pakistan. “I’ve been an armyman and I can never imagine being against the army … I am with the army, I will stand by the army.”

Alliance with PTI

Musharraf, whose newly-found party the APML recently organised a lukewarm rally in Karachi, said he was open for an alliance with cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, but will not serve under him if elected to power.

“If they [the PTI] want an alliance, certainly I would like to have an alliance. We have to come with a third political option because the two political options presently and in the past have been tried and failed … there is a need of coalition of forces which can bring about that third political option which can deliver to Pakistan,” Musharraf, who intends to return to Pakistan from self-exile later this month, said.

He said he was aware of people in Imran’s party who keep saying that they will not get into an alliance with him. “But they don’t have a vision, they don’t understand what they are talking about. They go into the field and lose and then (people) choose the same party. Then Pakistan suffers,” he said.

He vehemently rejected suggestions of serving under Imran, if the alliance came to power. “I cannot serve under him. I can be outside … I cannot be serving under anyone,” the former military ruler said.

 

[z9-ec]

This is further proof of his selfless devotion to the people. The only person who has the ability to defend Pakistan on international forums and so on. For Musharraf the cause of Pakistan and it's people to prosper is above any personal gain. He is willing to support anyone who is loyal, not corrupt and honest.

 

[OrionHunter]

“I’ve been an armyman and I can never imagine being against the army … I am with the army, I will stand by the army.”

He's a politician now and must think as a politician does. This statement of his just shows his biased attitude. No political party would ever tow his line of thinking and he could be put on the hat rack for this sooner than later.

 

[JAT BALWAN]

hehehe... chor-chor mausere bhai...

 

[True Lies]

The World Today - Court driven coup in Pakistan? 17/01/2012ELEANOR HALL: Now to the stand-off in Pakistan between the government, the military and the judiciary.

The Supreme Court is threatening to force early elections by ordering the Prime Minister, Raza Gilani, to appear in court this week on contempt charges over his refusal to reopen a corruption case against the president.

Rumblings of a military coup in the country have been building for some time, fuelled by the extraordinary memo allegedly from the Pakistani government to the US appealing for help to prevent a coup after the killing of Osama bin Laden last year.

Dr Christine Fair is a Pakistan analyst with the Centre for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University.

She says that while a military coup in the traditional sense is not on the cards, the generals are in bed with the judiciary and will oust the government.

She recently returned from Pakistan and spoke to me this morning from Washington.

ELEANOR HALL: Professor Fair last week the prime minister of Pakistan praised the military, overnight the parliament passed a motion of confidence in democracy and the prime minister now says that he will appear in court this week in a sign of respect to the judiciary.

So will this put an end to the concerns in Pakistan about a coup?

CHRISTINE FAIR: I don't think so, because essentially there are two processes that the Supreme Court is pursuing with some sort of tacit nod to and from the military.

So one is this what is called the National Reconciliation Order. A slew of criminal charges were dropped, including those against Zardari among others. This was invalidated by the Supreme Court in 2009. So this is one track and of course the Supreme Court now wants to know why the government did not reinstate the criminal charges as they had ordered.

But remember the other thing that's going on, which is equally aimed at bringing down the government but focusing more on president Zardari is memo-gate. So the civilian government in Pakistan is really taking a battering.

ELEANOR HALL: Now you said the judiciary has the tacit support of the military in issuing these contempt orders and so on. Are you suggesting that the judiciary is compromised?

CHRISTINE FAIR: Oh this judiciary is so compromised. The relationship that the Supreme Court has with the opposition goes back to 2008. So the political ties of the Supreme Court to the opposition is an open secret. What is less obvious is the tacit cooperation between the military and the Supreme Court, and you can see this in particular with respect to memo-gate.

This is an entirely different judicial circus that's ongoing. The significance of it is that if you actually look at all of the reportage and even if the PPP was behind this memo, it's not remotely clear that it is treasonous to ask for assistance to support a constitutionally mandated government.

It is most certainly treasonous for military officials to conspire with outside countries to bring down a government and yet it's only focusing upon one set of allegations, not the entire set of allegations of the job.

ELEANOR HALL: Well the Prime Minister is still promising that his will be the first civilian government in Pakistan's history to serve its full term. What chance do you think he has of fulfilling that?

CHRISTINE FAIR: I think it's going to be really difficult for this government to lumber along, especially now that the military has an option which is much more palatable than the PMLN (Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz) and that's Imran Khan.

So I would be so surprised if this government managed to hang on until 2013 which is when general elections are scheduled to take place.

ELEANOR HALL: On the other hand why should anyone complain if the military is orchestrating an early election, as this is the very antithesis of a coup?

CHRISTINE FAIR: I don't think any parliamentary democracy would tolerate their military conniving with an interventionist Supreme Court to bring down the government. That's not the antithesis of a coup.

I believe that is definitionally a coup, but instead of using tanks and the 111th Brigade which is what the army has always used in Pakistan to do so, they're using Pakistan's press and their using its complicit interventionist judiciary.

ELEANOR HALL: Again though is an early election such a bad thing? This government is seen by many Pakistanis as ineffective?

CHRISTINE FAIR: The problem with Pakistan's democracy is that none of these governments are able to serve out their entire terms. In the current set up, which has been the case since the 50s, any elected official comes into Pakistan, they have no expectation that they'll be there for the next five years. In fact, they have every expectation that the government will be prorogued, that in fact they'll even go to jail.

And so what you see happening is that these politicians really just loot. So even though this government is certainly hideous by all accounts, it is to no one's benefit that these democratically elected governments are brought to their knees by extra constitutional means.

ELEANOR HALL: And do you see this soft coup, as you're suggesting it is, pushing Pakistan in a more dangerous direction?

CHRISTINE FAIR: Well there's no question that it's going in to a more dangerous direction. What the military's essentially doing is it's consolidating its ability to influence domestic events by using a whole new set of vectors, which is Pakistan's media which the military influences directly by paying journalists. I mean this is a whole side discussion, but then also through a very compromised Supreme Court.

This Supreme Court, it must be remembered that these very Supreme Court officials themselves are hardly paradigms of judicial virtue. Many of them that are currently sitting in the Supreme Court violated their own oaths to uphold Pakistan's constitution when they swore subsequent oath to president Musharraf.

So you know people may look at the Supreme Court as if somehow where did these virtuous guys crawl out from? The fact is they're not virtuous. They are just as corrupt as any other actor. It's just that we have, both in Pakistan and without, a very short memory of what these characters have done and they've been able to make a name for themselves by making it appear as if they are acting within the contours of Pakistani law to act on the public interest of Pakistanis, and that's not what's happening here at all.

ELEANOR HALL: Professor Fair thanks very much for joining us. That's Pakistan analyst Christine Fair from the Centre for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University, speaking to me from Washington.

 

[third eye]

This is further proof of his selfless devotion to the people. The only person who has the ability to defend Pakistan on international forums and so on. For Musharraf the cause of Pakistan and it's people to prosper is above any personal gain. He is willing to support anyone who is loyal, not corrupt and honest.

Pak leaders have a strange way of showing ' selfless devotion'.

The leave the country immediately after their time, stay outside and ' selflessly devote' themselves to their nation when it suits them.