The End of the Bush-Mush Affair &the beganing of rule of crupts!!!!!

[batmannow]

The End of the Bush-Mush Affair

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, August 19, 2008; 11:45 AM

President Bush's stormy relationship with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is finally over.

Long after it became apparent that Musharraf was leading him on, and long after it was clear that Musharraf was on his way out the door, Bush still stood by his man.

But now that Musharraf is gone, having resigned in the face of impeachment, Bush is left to pick up the pieces.

Anwar Iqbal writes in Dawn, Pakistan's most widely read English-language newspaper: "Diplomatic sources in Washington described President Bush as Mr Musharraf's 'last holdout' in the US capital. Others in the Bush administration -- including Vice-President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- had long given up on Mr Musharraf. But Mr Bush remained faithful to the person he considered a close ally and a personal friend."
Iqbal writes that Bush finally faced up to the inevitable about three weeks ago, after Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani flew to Washington for an intervention: "By the time Prime Minister Gilani met Mr Bush on July 28, Pakistani lobbyists were satisfied that they had neutralised the pro-Musharraf lobby in Washington.
"'President Bush was the last holdout,' said [a think-tank expert who worked with the Pakistani ambassador to Washington]. 'But after a good luncheon at the White House with people who had their hearts in the right place, Mr Bush also realised that he can no longer save Mr Musharraf'.
"The prime minister took a team of 'Musharraf experts' with him to the luncheon and they played a key role in persuading Mr Bush to stop supporting the Pakistani leader.

"'Once this was done, the Pakistanis knew that the Americans will no longer try to save Mr Musharraf, so they made their move [for impeachment],' the expert said.

"While Mr Bush had accepted the argument that Mr Musharraf could no longer be saved, he still wanted to make sure that the Pakistani leader was not penalised.
"Besides sending his own ambassador to the coalition leaders to negotiate a safe exit, indemnity from penalisation and a secure stay in Pakistan or abroad for Mr Musharraf, Mr Bush also asked two key allies -- Britain and Saudi Arabia -- to help."
Jane Perlez writes in the New York Times that Musharraf announced his resignation "after months of belated recognition by American officials that he had become a waning asset in the campaign against terrorism.

"The decision removes from Pakistan's political stage the leader who for nearly nine years served as one of the United States' most important -- and ultimately unreliable -- allies. . . .
"'We've said for years that Musharraf is our best bet, and my fear is that we are about to discover how true that was,' one senior Bush administration official said, acknowledging that the United States had stuck with Mr. Musharraf for too long and developed few other relationships in Pakistan to fall back on.
"Administration officials will now have to find allies within the fractious civilian government, which has so far shown scant interest in taking on militants from the Taliban and Al Qaeda who have roosted in Pakistan's badlands along the border with Afghanistan.
"At the same time, suspicions between the American and Pakistani intelligence agencies and their militaries are deepening, and relations between the countries are at their lowest point since Mr. Musharraf pledged to ally Pakistan with the United States after the 9/11 attacks.
"Among the greatest concerns, senior American officials say, is the durability of new controls over Pakistan's nuclear program."

Michael Abramowitz and Glenn Kessler write in The Washington Post: "For years, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had no stronger supporter than President Bush. . . "[A]fter seven years of unstinting support for the onetime army general, including more than $10 billion in U.S. assistance for Pakistan since the 2001 attacks, the Bush administration finally concluded -- too late, in the view of its critics -- that time was up for Musharraf. . . .

"The shift from the Bush administration on Musharraf has been slow in coming. Even last fall, after Musharraf imposed emergency rule, Bush stood by the Pakistani president, offering only muted criticism and lauding him as 'a strong fighter against extremists and radicals' in the region. Although Musharraf's party was routed in elections this year, Bush telephoned the Pakistani president in May to say he looked forward to his continuing role in strengthening U.S.-Pakistan ties.
"'Certain folks hung on to him,' said a State Department official involved in Pakistan policy. . . .
"Despite the hope in some quarters of Washington that Musharraf could remain in his job, Bush administration officials said yesterday that they had been gradually preparing for his departure. . . .

"'We're confident that we will maintain a good relationship with the government of Pakistan,' White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters in Crawford, Tex., where the president is spending the week at his ranch."
Greg Miller writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Musharraf was arguably the administration's most important ally in the fight against Islamic extremists. But when he resigned the presidency Monday, senior counter-terrorism officials in the U.S. government said there was more relief than anxiety rippling through their ranks that the drama over Musharraf's fate had ended.

"Even at the height of his powers, the man who long commanded Pakistan's army had produced uneven results in countering the militant threat based in his country's northwest, said U.S. intelligence officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the relationship.
"They complained that Musharraf had failed to root out elements of the Pakistani intelligence service that remain sympathetic to the Taliban, which has regained strength and appears to move easily across the border into Afghanistan to attack U.S. troops.
"'From the American point of view, we wildly mis-estimated him and we wildly mis-estimated Pakistani capabilities,' said Stephen Cohen of the Brookings Institution, who was visiting Pakistan this week. . . .

"Last week, Ted Gistaro, the U.S. national intelligence officer for transnational threats, warned that Al Qaeda had 'strengthened its safe haven in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas by deepening its alliances with Pakistani militants,' and said it 'now has many of the operational and organizational advantages it once enjoyed across the border in Afghanistan, albeit on a smaller and less secure scale.'
"Critics said the revival of the extremist threat signals the failure of the Bush-Musharraf partnership.

"'It ends an era marked by great cooperation but unfulfilled expectations,' said analyst Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University."

Daniel Dombey, Andrew Ward and Amy Kazmin write in the Financial Times: "During the closest years of their relationship, between 2001 and last year, Mr Bush rarely let an opportunity go without lauding Mr Musharraf for his tough stand on 'radicals' and 'extremists'

"But eventually, the Pakistani leader's star fell, even with Mr Bush, after a new democratically elected government came to power in Islamabad this year and proceeded to sideline Mr Musharraf.

"'The US was like a partner that has been cheated on for years and refuses to see the reality,' said Frederic Grare, a specialist on Pakistan at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington. He argued that the Bush administration overpersonalised its dealings with Mr Musharraf, brushed aside signs of Pakistani support for the Taliban and failed to perceive his lack of political support."

Deb Riechmann writes for the Associated Press: "'Bush came to call him the indispensable man,' said Bruce Riedel, a senior adviser to three presidents on Middle East and South Asian affairs. 'In the end, he also became the man who couldn't deliver. Bush was very slow to realize that he either had been had by Musharraf or that Musharraf was not up to the task. Historians will debate this for years.'"

For more on the history of the Bush-Mush relationship, see my November 19 column, Bush's Crush on Musharraf, which was prompted by articles in the Washington Post and New York Times describing how Musharraf wooed and won Bush shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Michael Abramowitz wrote that week in The Washington Post: "Over the course of a dozen private meetings and numerous phone conversations . . . the savvy and well-spoken Pakistani president has made a point of cementing his personal relationship with Bush. Musharraf has regaled the U.S. president with stories of his youth in Punjab, his empathy for rank-and-file soldiers and his desire to reform the education system in Pakistan, according to individuals familiar with those conversations."
Sheryl Gay Stolberg wrote then in the New York Times: "Experts in United States-Pakistan relations said General Musharraf has played the union masterfully, by convincing Mr. Bush that he alone can keep Pakistan stable. Kamran Bokhari, an analyst for Stratfor, a private intelligence company, who met with General Musharraf in January, said the general viewed Mr. Bush with some condescension."
The New York Times editorial board writes: "For seven years, the Bush administration enabled Mr. Musharraf -- believing that he was the best ally for the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. He never delivered on that promise. And Pakistan's people deeply resent Washington for propping up the dictator.
With Mr. Musharraf finally out of the picture, it is time to focus American policy on his dangerous and dangerously neglected country."

Juan Cole writes for Salon: "It is a measure of the Bush administration's broken foreign policy that the departure of Pervez Musharraf, the corrupt, longtime military dictator of Pakistan, is provoking fears in Washington of 'instability.' Despite Bush's warm embrace, Musharraf gutted the rule of law in Pakistan over the previous year and a half, including sacking its Supreme Court. He attempted to do away with press freedom, failed to provide security for campaigning politicians and strove to postpone elections indefinitely.
"The Bush administration has made a regular practice of undermining democracy in places where local politics don't play out to its liking, and in that, at least, Musharraf was a true partner. But stability derives not from a tyrannical brake on popular aspirations; it derives from the free play of the political process. Musharraf's resignation from office, in fact, marks Pakistan's first chance for a decent political future since 1977."

 

[roadrunner]

I do not know why you find this article important, newsworthy or funny. Not when you miss quotes like :

"It is a measure of the Bush administration's broken foreign policy that the departure of Pervez Musharraf, the corrupt, longtime military dictator of Pakistan, is provoking fears in Washington of 'instability.'

Corrupt Musharraf most definitely wasn't. Dictator, one could wonder whether PPP is a dictatorship run party with the throne being inherited from one to the next person on the basis of lineage. Don't get me started on the instability that Pakistan is currently going through. Getting Pakistan out of the poverty trap and away from reliance on the IMF was where Pakistan was heading with Musharraf. With Zardari you can ensure the cycle of loans from the IMF will continue. Convenient for those running the IMF for sure, but passing right over the heads of others. Already you see all the good work over the last 7 years being undone, investors pulling out etc.

If Pakistan wants to progress, the cycle of corrupt civilian (not military) governments/military government recovery needs to stop. Either civilian governments cause Pakistan to default and balkanize into 4 countries, or military rule needs to come back for a period of 20-30 years. The progress will be made as either 4 countries, or as one. But the military need to stop bailing out Pakistan. Let it fall, then people will learn the lesson the military is not their enemy.

 

[batmannow]

A New Quest for U.S. in Pakistan After Musharraf
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: August 18, 2008


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani government will almost certainly remain an American ally in the campaign against terrorism. The question for Washington will be how firmly it can fix the attention of the two leaders of the governing coalition on the raging Taliban insurgency.

Neither of the two, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, have shown much interest in the nexus of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which have found sanctuary and renewed strength in Pakistan’s tribal areas. From there, they threaten American soldiers in Afghanistan and have been destabilizing Pakistan itself. The threat from the Islamic extremists present different dangers to the United States and Pakistan. At the end of the Bush administration and the start of a new era in Washington, the major concerns about Pakistan, a poor, nuclear-armed country with 160 million people, are twofold.

First, the United States wants to prevent Al Qaeda from preparing another attack on the United States from the safety and seclusion of the lawless tribal region; second, the American military is demanding that Pakistan stop Taliban fighters from crossing the border into Afghanistan and attacking American and NATO forces.

For Pakistan, the Taliban threat is a domestic one. In the past month, for example, more than 130 girls’ schools have been burned by the Taliban in the region of Swat alone, and in the past 10 days there have been daily casualties in clashes in the tribal areas between the insurgents and the military. Many of the 60 suicide bomb attacks last year, and indeed, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December, have been attributed to the Pakistani Taliban.

Even with a civilian government in control of Pakistan’s Parliament, Washington will continue to concentrate its antiterrorism efforts on Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the army chief of staff, who succeeded Mr. Musharraf as military chief last November, said Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, a former minister of the interior whose parliamentary district borders the tribal region.

The coalition that emerged triumphant on the ashes of Mr. Musharraf’s administration on Monday in fact is a fragile one that could fall apart in the coming months. So just as the Bush administration saw Mr. Musharraf when he was army chief as “an indispensable ally,” Washington almost surely sees General Kayani in the same way, albeit with a civilian component along side him, Mr. Sherpao said.

“They will be asking the coalition to give General Kayani support,” Mr. Sherpao said of Washington.

But, Mr. Sherpao said the coalition government had a poor comprehension of the conflict in the tribal zone, and little cohesion.

Mr. Zardari, Ms. Bhutto’s widower and now the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Mr. Nawaz, a former prime minister and the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, are very different politicians.

Mr. Zardari, a controversial businessman with little experience in government, is a virtual unknown in Washington. Prime Minster Yousaf Razi Gilani, whom Mr. Zardari handpicked, made a poor impression during his first visit to the White House last month.

Mr. Sharif left a legacy as a leader who was prepared to introduce the strict Islamic Shariah law in the late 1990s, a threat that left doubts in Washington about his commitment to containing extremists.

That reputation should be put aside, said Gen. Jehangir Karamat, a former army chief of staff who served as Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington in the early Musharraf era.

“I don’t think missteps of the past should haunt him,” General Karamat said of Mr. Sharif. “I think he understands the gravity of the situation.”

“He realizes how the insurgency can destabilize,” he added. “He needs to be listened to. He is there now, you can’t walk around him.”

Washington’s chief complaint about Pakistan in recent months has centered on what it contends is substantial support for the Taliban by the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

The C.I.A. has depended heavily on the ISI for information about militants in Pakistan, and had kept quiet about its longstanding concerns that the Pakistani spy service had divided loyalties. It was felt, Washington officials said, that the ISI was too important to alienate.

But those qualms have vanished in the last few months as Taliban attacks on American soldiers in Afghanistan have mounted.

On a visit to Islamabad last month. Stephen R. Kappes, the C.I.A.’s deputy director, gave Prime Minister Gilani evidence of the ISI’s involvement with Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, a Taliban operator with close links to Al Qaeda. Mr. Kappes also offered evidence of ISI connections to the suicide bombing attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul on July 7, which killed nearly 60 people.

The briefing was intended to alert the Pakistanis that Washington was aware of, and deeply concerned by, the deepening ties between the ISI and the Taliban, Washington officials said.

A few weeks later, as Mr. Gilani was en route to Washington, the civilian government announced in a late night communiqué that the Ministry of Interior had taken command of the ISI, an unprecedented action in Pakistan.

The move to take hold of the spy agency, which is controlled by the military, was interpreted here as an effort to impress the Bush administration that the civilian government was prepared to put the ISI back in its box.

Instead, the action badly misfired. The military insisted that the civilian government reverse itself. Mr. Gilani landed in Washington with relations between the intelligence agencies at a low point.

In the meantime, the Taliban continue to make strides across the tribal regions. The army, which has performed poorly in counterinsurgency tasks, called in airstrikes against Taliban positions in the Bajaur district in the past week after the insurgents forced paramilitary convoys to retreat with heavy losses and casualties.

“The tide of Talibanization is overwhelming us,” said Talat Masood, a retired general and a political analyst. “The very large majority of people think the war on terror is wrong, and by default they are supporting the Taliban. The leaders don’t have the capacity and they don’t have the time to talk about it.”

 

[batmannow]

Sixty-one years down the line

By Ardeshir Cowasjee

THE 61st anniversary of the coming into existence of Pakistan has come and gone, and once again the leaders of the day evoked the memory of the founder-maker of their country, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, falsely pontificating on how they honour his legacy and follow the path that he set for them.

Were he to know how his country has evolved, how it stands today, he would revolve in his grave, struck with grief and anger — though, as has been said before, he had a fair idea that things would not turn out as planned when he made his remark about each successive government being worse than its predecessor, a prescient saying that has tragically held too true.

Unity, Faith and Discipline were his catchwords, not one of which has been honoured in either spirit or deed. This country, barring its politicians, is disunited as never before. Faith is split between the various vitriolic schools of thought and has but provoked intolerance, bigotry and violence, and as for discipline it is nowhere to be found.

Jinnah’s creed which he set out concisely on August 11, 1947 to the members of the country’s first constituent assembly is remembered now by many, and many, apart from what passes for leadership which has solidly and purposefully ignored it, reiterate it as a constant reminder of what should be.

The first lot of legislators was firmly and firstly told that the first duty of any government is to maintain law and order so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its citizens are fully protected by the state. And, then he set forth his ideology of Pakistan: “You are free, you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”

On two subsequent occasions when addressing the world he assured his listeners that Pakistan would not be a theocracy, that it would not be ruled by “priests with a divine mission”. Ziaul Haq (Pakistan’s Cromwell?) did his best on the theocracy and divine mission score, and Nawaz Sharif came very close to imposing his divine rule when he brought in his 15th constitutional amendment during his second stint in power, which thankfully for the country he could not push through both Houses.

But Nawaz Sharif is now back with us and his concentrated vengeance has prevailed upon his partner in coalition, Asif Zardari, and we now have this lethal combination running (or should it be ruining?) the country.

Zardari held out for as long as he could but finding himself on a losing wicket, with Sharif’s popularity soaring, he succumbed. So we are now where we are, not knowing from day to day what fate lies in store for the nation, with the leadership embroiled in its revenge game, baying for blood, with governance at a standstill and the Taliban and the warriors of God steadily imposing their writ in the Fata and NWFP areas.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah founded this newspaper, the foremost newspaper of record in Pakistan. In a free country, he supported a free press, which is what we now have. We also have what in his days was unknown, the electronic media, which has been given complete freedom and is using that freedom to gleefully join the politicians in their virulent and vindictive attack upon a cornered president — who remains, as I have consistently maintained, the best of the worst lot.

Largely, no holds are barred when it comes to the anchor people and to the various commentators who are rounded up and circulated amongst the numerous ‘news’ channels. This is not freedom, it is a form of wrongful prosecution bordering on persecution. And sadly there are certain elements of the press which are no better and which have joined the blood-lust.

Thankfully, Jinnah never knew he had spawned a nation which would, as the years pass, become increasingly intolerant and bigoted, with individuals having scant respect for the opinions of others. There is now little give and take, there is little discussion and debate. There is but the hurling of abuse, intense rumour-mongering, and disinformation.

When one individual disagrees with another rather than thrashing out the matter in civilised manner, agreeing to disagree amicably, accusations are flung that the other is a traitor, or anti-Pakistan, or an agent of the CIA, RAW or Mossad. Negativism has become the order of the day.

Impeachment is no light matter. It is an extremely delicate operation which should be handled with dignity and intelligence, constitutionally and legally. It does not, in any manner, involve vengeance. We see daily photographs in the press, and shots on our television screens, of the smug powers that be and who are now in charge of drawing up the ‘chargesheet’ against the sinning president, lolling around on plush sofas in gilded drawing rooms preparing endless drafts.

They should be in the precincts of the parliament, in committee rooms, sitting around tables, projecting some sort of dignified comportment and intent of constitutional purpose.

The cards are stacked, the rats are running, as was to be expected. They must protect their rear-ends so that when it is all over they are there in position to join in the rush to grab whatever spoils remain. They are acting in character.

When I recently met my friend, President General Pervez Musharraf, at the Governor’s House, in Karachi, he was in good spirits. I told him he should not feel isolated, that there was another leader who had acted in similar manner. Who, he enquired? The little king of Id, I told him.

Though Musharraf still retains his sense of humour he does not read page eight of Jinnah’s newspaper. I handed him a photocopy of a cartoon printed on July 6.

The sequence showed three prisoners, all trussed up, waiting to be presented by the wizard to his king. The first was caught cursing you, he was told. “Off with his head,” came the order. The second was caught stealing bread. “Feed him to the lions,” was the response. And worst of all, the third man was caught falsifying documents, money laundering and pilfering 700m in corporate loans. “Hire him,” roared the king.

Some of us must hope that the vultures do not devour their prey or his family — especially his mother and wife. His intent may often have been good but his political allies were the lowest of the low. They came and went, each time to be replaced by worse scum.

[email protected]

August 17, 2008 Sunday Sha'aban 14, 1429

The DAWN

 

[batmannow]

PPP wants Asif as president

By Our Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: The Pakistan People’s Party appears all set to get its co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari elected as president of the country, unless he himself decides against taking that post which will eventually be without any power or authority.

“All party members have unanimously nominated Mr Zardari for the presidency,” Information Minister Sherry Rehman told reporters after a meeting of the PPP Central Executive Committee (CEC) held at the Prime Minister’s House on Friday.

Senior leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who has been criticising PPP’s policies for some time and was against the impeachment of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, attended the meeting at the invitation of Mr Zardari.

Earlier in the day, the Sindh assembly adopted a resolution nominating Mr Zardari for the top post.

Ms Rehman said Mr Zardari had told the party members that he would take a decision on the matter in 24 hours.

Although the PPP has nominated Mr Zardari as its candidate, the matter will be taken up by the heads of parties in the ruling coalition, including the Pakistan Muslim League-N of former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif.

Sources told Dawn that the PML-N was not happy over the nomination of Mr Zardari because it wanted a non-political person at the top post and reportedly suggested the names of former chief justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, eminent lawyer Fakharuddin G. Ibrahim, PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Ataullah Mengal of the BNP.

PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had stated on record that the president should be from on of the smaller provinces.

Mr Zardari himself had said in an interview to a private TV channel that he was not an aspirant to the office of the president. In the same interview, he hinted that the next president could be a woman.

Political analysts believe that if Mr Zardari becomes the president, questions may be raised about the impartiality of the office. They say Mr Zardari and the PPP will face severe criticism from various circles if he continues to run the party affairs while sitting in the Presidency.

They said that Farooq Khan Leghari on becoming the president had resigned from the PPP. And former president Pervez Musharraf faced criticism for presiding over and attending meetings of the PML-Q.

Habib Khan Ghori in Karachi adds: In the Sindh assembly, the resolution nominating Mr Zardari was tabled by Law Minister Ayaz Soomro and seconded by Shoaib Bokhari of the MQM.

It said Mr Zardari was the most suitable candidate for the office of president.

After brief speeches by members of all parties, including leader of the joint opposition in the assembly Jam Madad Ali, the resolution was put to vote by Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro. The nomination of Mr Zardari was greeted by boisterous thumping of the desk.

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah termed the resolution historic.

The resolution reads: “This assembly resolves that following the tragic Shahadat of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Mr Asif Ali Zardari showed political wisdom and through his efforts and reconciliation, got coalition governments formed at the centre and in provinces. He, in consultation with and cooperation of coalition partners, through his political sagacity and acumen, restored true democracy in the country.

“Under the circumstances, Mr Asif Ali Zardari is the most suitable candidate for the office of President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This assembly supports him.”

August 23, 2008 Saturday Sha'aban 20, 1429

The DAWN

 

[batmannow]

Bhutto widower proposed for Pakistan president

By STEPHEN GRAHAM
The Associated Press
Saturday, August 23, 2008; 2:34 AM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's largest political party on Friday proposed the husband of assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto to succeed the ousted Pervez Musharraf as president.

Asif Ali Zardari, who is emerging as the favorite to be elected by legislators Sept. 6, criticized Musharraf for his long, authoritarian rule but would likely continue the former general's support for the U.S. war against extremist groups.

However, his ascent would dismay many Pakistanis, who view him as a symbol of the sleaze that tainted the country's last experiment with civilian rule in the 1990s. He won the nickname "Mr. 10 Percent" for alleged corruption during his wife's turns as prime minister.

And, with the governing coalition that drove Musharraf to resign this week now teetering on the verge of collapse, Zardari's nomination is not certain. He is engaged in intense political horse-trading with the leader of the other key party, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was a bitter rival of Bhutto.
Sharif had no immediate reaction to Zardari's nomination, but his party has been threatening to bolt from the coalition in a struggle over power.

Many citizens, as well as Pakistan's Western backers, are urging the parties to resolve political issues and turn their attention to runaway inflation, slowing economic growth and inexorably rising violence by Islamic militants entrenched along the border with Afghanistan.

That need was rammed home Thursday by twin Taliban suicide bombings that killed 67 people at the country's biggest weapons manufacturing complex, just 22 miles from the capital, Islamabad. On Friday, security forces killed 16 militants, including two suspected suicide bombers, in a clash in the restive frontier in the northwest, officials said.

On Saturday, a suicide car bombing at a police station in northwestern Pakistan killed at least six officers, security officials said. Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack.

Also, a bomb rigged to bicycle went off near a vehicle carrying a senior police investigator in the southern city of Karachi, wounding four people, said Wasim Ahmad, the city's police chief. The investigator was among those hurt.

After seeking to tame militant groups in peace negotiations, the government has been entangled in recent weeks in increasing fighting with hard-line Islamic movements along the border. Militant violence began intensifying after Musharraf ordered soldiers to seize a radical mosque in Islamabad during a bloody battle in July 2007.

According to Associated Press reporting, at least 110 militant attacks have been launched on government, military or police targets since the mosque siege and about 20 attacks have targeted civilians. At least 60 of all those attacks were suicide bombings

The total violence since July 2007, which includes some fighting not initiated by militants, has resulted in the deaths of at least 350 soldiers, 120 police, 470 civilians and 1,000 militants, based on AP reporting.


The 52-year-old Zardari did not immediately accept his party's nomination, but he had done nothing to tamp down the recent chorus from supporters calling for him to take a post that retains many of the powers accumulated during Musharraf's nine-year rule.

"If the major political party believes that he is the most talented person, then he is the most eligible person for this post," said Nabeel Gabol of Zardari's Pakistan People's Party, which gave the leader unanimous support at a meeting Friday.

Party spokeswoman Sherry Rehman said Zardari promised to announce whether to accept the nomination within 24 hours.

"Now it depends on him whether he himself becomes (president) or nominates someone else," Gabol said.

A presidency for Zardari _ or a figure under his control _ would cap an extraordinary transformation of Pakistani politics that has removed both of Washington's most likely allies from the scene.

Zardari only returned to Pakistan from years in exile after his wife was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack last December.

Bhutto, a liberal who courted Western governments and pledged a tough line against Islamic militants, had come back two months before under a U.S.-encouraged deal with Musharraf expected to see them share power after February parliamentary elections.

Musharraf, who gave up his dual post of army chief in November to rule as a civilian president, had by then issued a controversial order quashing corruption charges against Bhutto and her husband.

Zardari has been widely known as Mr. 10 Percent since allegations were raised that he pocketed kickbacks on government contracts during Bhutto's two premierships. He denied the charges, calling them fabrications by political opponents, and he was never convicted.
But Musharraf became a political untouchable even for Bhutto after he imposed emergency rule so he could remove Supreme Court judges poised to block his plan to remain as a civilian ruler.

The turmoil resulted in a stinging defeat for Musharraf's allies in the February elections and thrust Zardari into an alliance with Sharif united mainly by opposition to the unpopular ex-general.

Once Musharraf resigned Monday to head off impeachment, the two biggest parties in the government have wrangled over how to restore the fired judges, whether Musharraf should face prosecution and who should succeed him.

The election commission announced Friday that federal and provincial lawmakers would elect the new president in simultaneous votes Sept. 6. It said candidates must file nomination papers Tuesday.

Lieutenants of Sharif have argued that the next president should hail from one of Pakistan's two smallest provinces _ Baluchistan or North West Frontier. That would exclude Zardari, who comes from the southern province of Sindh.

Zardari previously suggested a woman should get the job _ prompting speculation that parliamentary speaker Fehmida Mirza, who bears an eerie resemblance to his late wife _ or even his sister, a minor politician, could step up.

But some observers view a candidacy by the man who already wields great power from behind the scenes as logical.

One of the two major pro-Musharraf parties now in opposition has also called for Zardari to be president, an indication that the People's Party could bring new allies into the government if Sharif quit.


A national newspaper predicted Friday that Zardari will take the presidency so that no one else can secure its power to appoint the chiefs of the military or to dissolve parliament. Polls suggest that Sharif, who tapped popular rejection of Musharraf and his close alliance with the U.S., would make significant gains in the event of new elections.

The Lahore-based Daily Times also argued that Zardari was well-suited because he had eased Musharraf out without alienating the army, "with which he needs to work closely on the war on terror in order to keep Washington in the right humor."

Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences, said Zardari would be unlikely to weaken Pakistan's close alliance with Washington.

"The logic will be that a powerful individual with national support, which Zardari might get, will be more effective to deal with the question of terrorism," Rais said.

The governing coalition continued to show strains, with a spokesman for Sharif's party threatening again late Friday to leave the alliance.

If the party did quit, the lawyers who mounted months of street protests against Musharraf over the ouster of judges would likely take to the streets again.

"If somebody thinks that people will be satisfied after Musharraf's removal, let me tell you that people want the rule of law," said Tariq Mehmood, a retired judge.

Lawyers and others argue that restoring the judges is the only way to clear up the constitutional mess left by Musharraf and anchor democratic rights and an independent judiciary in a country ruled by the military for half its 61-year history. ___

Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad and Munir Ahmad contributed to this report
washingtonpost.com
Saturday, August 23, 2008 1:26:26 PM

 

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Nawaz puts his foot down
By Nasir Jamal

August 24, 2008 Sunday Sha'aban 21, 1429
The DAWN


LAHORE, Aug 23: Differences between two major parties in the ruling coalition — Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N — appeared to be widening on Saturday as Nawaz Sharif moved his deadline for reinstatement of the deposed judges forward by two days, to Monday.

He warned that his party would be “free to take its own decision if the new deadline is not respected”.
“We have asked the PPP leadership to let us know if it is prepared to restore the judges by Monday,” Mr Sharif told reporters after a three-hour meeting with a PPP delegation, which comprised Raza Rabbani, Khursheed Shah and Sherry Rehman.

The PPP leaders had called on Nawaz Sharif to seek his support for Asif Ali Zardari’s candidature.

Mr Sharif said he was bringing the deadline forward because “we were unaware about the announcement of the schedule for the presidential election and nomination of Mr Zardari for the office by his party when we agreed on Wednesday as the deadline for restoration of the judiciary to its pre-Nov 3 position,” he told a questioner.
Although he did not say it in so many words, he made it amply clear that his party would neither stay in the coalition nor support Mr Zardari’s candidature if the judges were not reinstated.

Mr Sharif has called a meeting of the PML-N’s central working and executive committees in Islamabad on Monday afternoon to discuss the party’s future course of action.
“It is not too difficult to move a motion for reinstatement of the judges in parliament, debate it and carry it the same day. If you don’t want to do it in 10 minutes, take a few hours and issue executive orders after the passage of the resolution in parliament, restoring the judges in the evening. We have given the PPP a roadmap and are waiting for their response,” he said.
“According to the Islamabad accord between us and the PPP, the judges should have been reinstated in 24 hours after the resignation or impeachment of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf. But it is unfortunate that this did not happen.”
In reply to a question, he said it were the people who had forced Gen (retd) Musharraf to quit. “I’m not a wheeler-dealer and I’m not aware of any other force that has played a role in the resignation of Musharraf. If we hadn’t stood steadfast to our principles and if we had stopped putting pressure on him, the general wouldn’t have agreed to resign.”
In a veiled response to a question, Mr Sharif also expressed his unwillingness to support Mr Zardari for the presidency. “We have told the PPP leaders to abide by the agreements, especially the Islamabad accord that clearly states that the PPP will get its man elected as next president if the 17th Amendment is scrapped.
“If the controversial amendment stays, a non-partisan person enjoying respect and confidence of all the four coalition partners will be elected to the office of the president,” Mr Sharif said.
Mr Sharif said neither he nor his party feared the PPP or Mr Zardari in the presidency. “I have a great deal of respect for Mr Zardari. But here we are talking of a principle. The powers to dissolve the assemblies should rest with the prime minister, and not with the president.”

 

[batmannow]

Yahoo! Asia News
Sunday August 24, 8:46 PM

Split feared in Pakistan's coalition over judges issue

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan's fragile coalition government is facing a Monday deadline on reinstating judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf that could determine whether its major parties split.

Political infighting has weakened the ability to focus on militant violence -- almost 100 people were killed in bombings in the past week -- and leave the government in disarray ahead of the September 6 presidential election.

Seven militants were killed and three soldiers wounded in the latest violence in the troubled tribal areas along the Afghan border, officials said Sunday.

The party of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif has imposed a Monday deadline for hearing from its coalition partner, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), on whether the judges will get their jobs back.

Critics say PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of another former premier, Benazir Bhutto, fears their return could mean the end of an amnesty on corruption charges that brought the couple back to Pakistan last year.

Although the PPP has signalled it will agree to the reinstatement, it has been dragging its feet on the issue, which has threatened to fracture an already fragile coalition that took power after the defeat of Musharraf's allies in February 18 polls


Sharif held a meeting with close aides Sunday to discuss the political situation, the presidential election and the judges issue, party officials said. A decision whether to participate in the presidential election will be announced on Monday, they added.

Zardari confirmed Saturday that he would run for president in the September 6 poll triggered by Musharraf's resignation to avoid impeachment charges.

A resolution on the reinstatement of the 60 judges, who include the independent-minded former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, would require the PPP's support.

Musharraf's resignation and the race to replace him come amid a prolonged battle with Islamic militants who have carried out a series of suicide bombings and clashed with troops on the Afghan border.

A double Taliban suicide bombing at Pakistan's biggest weapons factory on Thursday, the deadliest ever attack on a Pakistani military site, has put fresh pressure on the coalition to end its bickering and focus on militant violence.

Sharif also wants the powers of the presidency reduced to prevent the next incumbent from dissolving parliament -- a power created by Musharraf -- and said he would back Zardari for president if this happened.

PPP deputy secretary general Raza Rabbani said Saturday that the judges would be restored to office but declined to disclose a timeframe.

Sharif previously threatened to quit the coalition if they were not reinstated by Friday.

The former premier -- who was ousted by Musharraf in a 1999 coup -- had said representatives of the two parties would draft a resolution on restoring the judges over the weekend and then introduce it in parliament on Monday.

Sharif's party spokesman Siddiqul Farooq said the issue of whether Zardari would stand for the presidency was the PPP's "own decision," not that of the coalition partners, but reiterated its leader's demands Saturday.

"We do not want a civilian president with the same powers that Musharraf had, mainly the power to dissolve parliament," Farooq said.

"Our top priority is restoration of the judges and we want it done on Monday," Farooq insisted, adding that the party would meet in Islamabad on Monday to discuss the latest developments.

Farooq on Sunday said the future of the alliance depended on reinstatement of the judges.

"The party will decide its future course of action," Farooq told AFP.

"The alliance is intact today but its future depends on the fulfilment of the promise Zardari made for the restoration of the judges," he said.

The deadlock has heightened the political instability in Pakistan some six days after Musharraf, a key US ally, quit office and as Western nations look for continuity after his departure.