Musharraf may hang up army uniform
Pervez Musharraf appeared on Wednesday to be on the verge of a power-sharing pact with Benazir Bhutto.
By Agencies |
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s embattled leader Pervez Musharraf appeared on Wednesday to be on the verge of a power-sharing pact with Benazir Bhutto after the former premier said he had agreed to resign as Army chief. A Cabinet minister, close to Musharraf, also said the two sides had agreed on his military role after several days of talks in London, where Bhutto lives in self-imposed exile due to corruption charges against her in Pakistan.
In a separate development, the country’s increasingly independent Supreme Court added to the pressure on Musharraf by agreeing to hear a legal challenge against his position as the head of the powerful Army. President Musharraf, a key anti-terror ally of the United States, has said he intends to be re-elected as president-in-uniform in September or October, but faces growing opposition after eight years of military rule.
“All issues have almost been settled between the PPP (Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party) and the government. Only a few points remain and discussions are going on to settle them also,” railways minister Sheikh Rashid told agencies. Asked about Musharraf’s dual role, Rashid said: “Uniform is no longer an issue and the president will make an announcement about it at an appropriate time.”
But Bhutto — who was Pakistan’s first female prime minister from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996 — said in a British newspaper interview published on Wednesday that Musharraf had agreed in a deal with her to resign as Army chief.
Speaking from London, Bhutto told The Daily Telegraph that while the deal was not yet complete, the “uniform issue is resolved”. “The uniform issue is key and there has been a lot of movement on it in the recent round of talks,” she said, adding the deadline for the deal was the end of August.
Bhutto has pledged to return to Pakistan ahead of general elections due by early 2008, as has another former premier, Nawaz Sharif. Among Bhutto’s other conditions, according to the Telegraph, were immunity from prosecution, the lifting of a ban on prime ministers serving a third term and the curbing of presidential powers to sack the government.
“Nothing is sealed or signed,” deputy information minister Tariq Azeem said. “The government is maintaining contact with Opposition parties to ensure a hitch-free presidential election.”
Any pact that involves Musharraf hanging up his uniform would also see off the legal challenge to his military role that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear. The application was filed by leading Islamist Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the chief of Pakistan’s main coalition of fundamentalist parties known as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Front. It says that under military regulations, Musharraf’s term as chief of Army staff expired in 2001, and that he was no longer eligible to continue in the post after turning 60 in August 2003. It also argues that in 2004 Musharraf broke a public pledge to hang up his military uniform. “The people are fed up with the unconstitutional and dictatorial military regime,” Ahmed told agencies outside the courthouse. “We are the people’s genuine representatives.”
Musharraf has suffered a series of legal setbacks since his botched attempt in March to sack the head of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The court reinstated Chaudhry in July and then ruled last week that Sharif could return from exile in Saudi Arabia and London.
In a separate interview with the Financial Times also on Wednesday, Sharif said he planned to return to Pakistan within a fortnight to lead a campaign to topple Musharraf. He called Bhutto’s attempts to deal with Musharraf a “clear violation” of an agreement between the former premiers to do “no deals with military dictators”.
In a separate development, the country’s increasingly independent Supreme Court added to the pressure on Musharraf by agreeing to hear a legal challenge against his position as the head of the powerful Army. President Musharraf, a key anti-terror ally of the United States, has said he intends to be re-elected as president-in-uniform in September or October, but faces growing opposition after eight years of military rule.
“All issues have almost been settled between the PPP (Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party) and the government. Only a few points remain and discussions are going on to settle them also,” railways minister Sheikh Rashid told agencies. Asked about Musharraf’s dual role, Rashid said: “Uniform is no longer an issue and the president will make an announcement about it at an appropriate time.”
But Bhutto — who was Pakistan’s first female prime minister from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996 — said in a British newspaper interview published on Wednesday that Musharraf had agreed in a deal with her to resign as Army chief.
Speaking from London, Bhutto told The Daily Telegraph that while the deal was not yet complete, the “uniform issue is resolved”. “The uniform issue is key and there has been a lot of movement on it in the recent round of talks,” she said, adding the deadline for the deal was the end of August.
Bhutto has pledged to return to Pakistan ahead of general elections due by early 2008, as has another former premier, Nawaz Sharif. Among Bhutto’s other conditions, according to the Telegraph, were immunity from prosecution, the lifting of a ban on prime ministers serving a third term and the curbing of presidential powers to sack the government.
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“Nothing is sealed or signed,” deputy information minister Tariq Azeem said. “The government is maintaining contact with Opposition parties to ensure a hitch-free presidential election.”
Any pact that involves Musharraf hanging up his uniform would also see off the legal challenge to his military role that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear. The application was filed by leading Islamist Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the chief of Pakistan’s main coalition of fundamentalist parties known as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Front. It says that under military regulations, Musharraf’s term as chief of Army staff expired in 2001, and that he was no longer eligible to continue in the post after turning 60 in August 2003. It also argues that in 2004 Musharraf broke a public pledge to hang up his military uniform. “The people are fed up with the unconstitutional and dictatorial military regime,” Ahmed told agencies outside the courthouse. “We are the people’s genuine representatives.”
Musharraf has suffered a series of legal setbacks since his botched attempt in March to sack the head of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The court reinstated Chaudhry in July and then ruled last week that Sharif could return from exile in Saudi Arabia and London.
In a separate interview with the Financial Times also on Wednesday, Sharif said he planned to return to Pakistan within a fortnight to lead a campaign to topple Musharraf. He called Bhutto’s attempts to deal with Musharraf a “clear violation” of an agreement between the former premiers to do “no deals with military dictators”.
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