Musharraf sworn in as President 29/9/07 - Retires from Army 28/9/07

[HAIDER]

It was sad to see how our nation treats sincere people. But i like his statement in speech," Army should crush inn without any hesitation whenever see political turmoil.". Nodoubt he is one of best leader Pakistan every produce. I see my Turkish or Indian friends, everyone admire him so much. Even his last ceremony was covered live by all Indian news channels last night, paritally CNN, Aljazeera and said words of appreciation.

 

[Flintlock]

Looks like Washington finally put its foot down....

I doubt this changes anything though. Its just a cosmetic move on Musharraf's part. He's still incharge of everything, being the President. Kiyani will be no more than a puppet. It'll make Musharraf's job easier by letting Kiyani do the everyday running of the army.

Elections in Jan will undoubtedly reelect Musharraf, even if he's not popular.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Looks like Washington finally put its foot down....

I doubt this changes anything though. Its just a cosmetic move on Musharraf's part. He's still incharge of everything, being the President. Kiyani will be no more than a puppet. It'll make Musharraf's job easier by letting Kiyani do the everyday running of the army.

Elections in Jan will undoubtedly reelect Musharraf, even if he's not popular.

Washington didn't do squat.

They may want to make statements occasionally to appear as if they are actually doing something, but to attribute this to "Washington putting its foot down" is just silly and baseless.

Musharraf is following the roadmap he laid down a few years ago. This was always supposed to happen and would have occurred without the emergency had the SC not taken its judicial activism overboard and the US not been pushing for its "man" BB, who has essentially promised everything bar the Kitchen sink to the US.

Just because Musharraf silently acquiesced to US demands when such demands were in Pakistan's interest, as he saw it, does not mean that he "bowed to US diktat". The "deals" with the Tribals, the pipeline with Iran, opposition to any sanctions against Iran, Chinese investment in Gwadar, the imposition of the emergency itself - all of these indicate indicate that Washington can not make Musharraf do squat, unless Musharraf feels it is in the interest of Pakistan.

Also, Musharraf is already elected. The PML-Q, MQM and allied parties are up for election, and considering the development that has been carried out, they stand a strong chance of winning those elections.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Retd Gen Gul said a few things on the BBC (just now) that requires clarification from the members here.

He said Gen Kiyani would change the policy.

'He may not obey President Musharraf.

That the Pak Army was most dissatisfied with Gen Musharraf because he was fighting US' war and they obeyed him because they were a disciplined force.

 

[Black Stone]

This is a new chapter for the history of Pakistan.

 

[blain2]

Here is his speech. The translation is pretty weak!
Musharraf steps down as army chief - CNN.com

He has been a good CoAS (has taken care of the Army well). The dissatisfaction stems from the fact that Army has to fight other Pakistanis...but the Army also understands the threat from the extremist factions and agree with him that the policies instituted under his leadership must remain intact and thus I do not see him falling out with Kiyani or the Army in the future.

 

[Energon]

IMO Musharraf is a much better politician and a statesman than a military general. The only problem however is that his statesmanship so far was because of his position as the chief of the PA which is Pakistan's most powerful political party. So although there is no doubt in my mind that he will be a great politician in the future, I just wonder how he intends to do it without his power base.

 

[Flintlock]

This is a new chapter for the history of Pakistan.

LOL...are you Sena Lee's long lost twin brother? (or sister...i'm assuming you're male)

 

[blain2]

IMO Musharraf is a much better politician and a statesman than a military general. The only problem however is that his statesmanship so far was because of his position as the chief of the PA which is Pakistan's most powerful political party. So although there is no doubt in my mind that he will be a great politician in the future, I just wonder how he intends to do it without his power base.

His reason for staying on as President is simply for the continuity of the foreign and economic policies. The Armed Forces higher command understand the security implications for Pakistan if things go the way of the 90s when the economic problems actually started causing massive problems for the security of the country. As long as Musharraf remains as the President and has a say in the NSC, which includes the President, PM, Services Chiefs and the opposition leader then due to his understanding with the Services, he can ensure that no civilian leader will do an about turn on the above two policies. This is the key reason for him to stay on without being the Army chief.

Armed Forces also see the positive upturn in economy etc. over the past 8 years or so and will probably not allow a crackpot like BB or NS to wreak havoc on the nation again. Given the political situation on the ground, this is the best possible scenario...now the opposition and "Go Musharraf Go" morons need to STFU (pardon the expression) and start thinking about elections. Time for political agitation in my opinion is done with. Supposedly the Emergency will also be called off in the near future.

 

[zpak]

The man served with honor and dignity. Helped turn Pakistan around at times of dire need and has risked his life for the country on more than one occasion. The man deserves our respect. May Allah keep him safe and successful as President on beyond. Like someone pointed out: This is the first time a Pakistani leader has chosen the date of his retirement.

Name me one person who has equalled Musharrafs brilliant record. Hopefully his record is a sign of good things to come for Pakistan. And lets not forget, he's still Mr. President. I'm sure he'll keep whoever wins the election on a tight leash.

 

[Black Stone]

LOL...are you Sena Lee's long lost twin brother? (or sister...i'm assuming you're male)

I am confused? Is she a hot babe?

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Hamid Gul has his own agenda.

The Pakistani Army is composed of Pakistanis from all strata of society and as such the opinions of its soldiers would also be generally reflective of the mood amongst Pakistani society. Just as there are soldiers in the US army who may disagree with the Iraq war, or the WoT in general, I am sure there are soldiers in teh PA who disagree with the GoP policy.

AT the end of the day, what keeps the US military a potent fighting force are not the personal opinions and views of its members, but precisely that very same discipline and training that Mr. Gul mentions - As such, I would consider his remarks a compliment to the professionalism of the PA.

Kiyani reversing policy could mean a lot of different things - perhaps he'll go at the militants the way the Army has in Swat, perhaps he means that Kiyani will reduce the role of the military in politics. The only worrisome change he could bring would be to go the way of Zia-ulHaq, and by all accounts he doesn't seem to hold those types of beliefs.

 

[Awesome]

Dude Musharraf's already elected, the elections in Jan are for the government.

And I don't see why America is taking credit for any of this. Musharraf went out with a blast against America. Defied them with emergency, with rights to conduct operations, shoved away Benazir, and sent Negraponte home packing.

America is taking credit for something he had already declared in the press conference with all the journalists that he'd shed away his uniform by the end of November and even before that it was already set to expire by 15th November.

The timeline given by the west (CW) was 22nd November he even violated that.

I've read this notion over n over in articles today. The Americans are showing off to their people that "We did it!".

 

[ghazi]

Musharraf has tough time ahead of him as a civilian president. He will face a hostile parliament . He will have to give presidential address to the both houses, which he had not done so far. Turncoat politicians from PML(Q) will start deserting him. I want to see how long Aziz & Rashid will stick with him. He might be tried for treason & murder, as thousands of civilians have disappeared under him. Power center in military will shift to Kiyani. Kiyani's camp & beaurocrats will distance themselves from Musharraf. If old constitution is restored, 17th ammendment is undone, judiciary is reappointed then good bye to Musharraf!

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Musharraf has tough time ahead of him as a civilian president. He will face a hostile parliament . He will have to give presidential address to the both houses, which he had not done so far. Turncoat politicians from PML(Q) will start deserting him. I want to see how long Aziz & Rashid will stick with him. He might be tried for treason & murder, as thousands of civilians have disappeared under him. Power center in military will shift to Kiyani. Kiyani's camp & beaurocrats will distance themselves from Musharraf. If old constitution is restored, 17th ammendment is undone, judiciary is reappointed then good bye to Musharraf!

Thousands of civilians Ghazi? Last I heard the SC was asking for tracing 60 odd or so. You can't just invent numbers to suit your case.