Source: Reuters
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan’s army chief called for harmony on Thursday as a coalition opposed to President Pervez Musharraf prepared to form a government that could force him from power.
Recent opinion polls showed the vast majority of people would like U.S. ally Musharraf, who came to power as a general in a coup in 1999, to step down.
A crushing defeat suffered by his allies in a parliamentary election last month has raised the prospect that he could be forced out by a hostile National Assembly.
General Ashfaq Kayani, who became army chief after Musharraf quit the army to become a civilian leader in November, expressed optimism that there will be a “harmonized relationship between various pillars of the state, as provided in the constitution”.
A military statement quoted Kayani as telling army commanders in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, that “any kind of schism, at any level, under the circumstances would not be in the larger interest of the nation.”
Pakistan has been reeling since mid-2007 from a suicide bomb campaign mounted by al Qaeda inspired Islamist militants.
There have been four suicide attacks in the past week, and the country’s state of political flux has raised international concern about the risks of instability in the nuclear-armed Muslim nation of 160 million people.
The party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto won the most seats in the election while the party of Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf deposed, finished second.
Both parties are set to join hands with another opposition party to form a coalition that could threaten Musharraf’s rule.
Musharraf has rejected calls for his resignation and has said he was ready to work with whoever forms the government.
He is expected to convene the National Assembly in the coming days and invite Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to nominate a prime ministerial candidate to form a government.
Generals have led Pakistan for more than half the 60 years since the country was carved out of the partition of India following independence from Britain in 1947.
Kayani reaffirmed that the army fully stood behind the democratic process and was committed to play its constitutional role in support of the elected government.
He said army would stay out of the political process and expressed his hope it would not be dragged into any unnecessary controversy.
Kayani, who met with Musharraf this week, said an impression was being created that the army was distancing itself from the president and he emphasized the importance of “the constitutional relationship between army and the National Command Structure”.
While Sharif has been outspoken in his calls for Musharraf to go, Bhutto’s widower and her political successor, Asif Ali Zardari, has avoided taking such a hard line, though both have vowed to banish the military from politics.
E-mail this article to a friend
Tags: Army, Chief, Coalition, Election, Government, Kayani, Musharraf
5 responses so far ↓
1 Sufi // Mar 7, 2008 at 12:57 pm
We fully support the this beautiful idea,but the cheif should immediatly ask IBLEES Musharraf to vacate army house. He is the sole responsible for the current crisis. He has become the symbol of hate. We all want peace in this country,but the army should understand the gravity of the situation and dissect the penacea of of all evils.
We all know that the army is the sole responsible for political crisis,economic upheavel and insecurity. The chief must understand that the detention of the Chief Justice of Pakistan can not bring any good repute to the country and the army at large. The chief must understand that the illegal detention of the Chief Justice of Pakitan is seriously damaging the credibility of the army. The people are well aware of the policies of the army. We want the Chief should ask the intellegiencies to stop backing the militants in Swat and Jamia Hafza. These non state actors were trained for long long time to destablise political process and to save the status quo. But gone are the days when such tactics were used as tool to fool the people.
The people of Pakistan wants the army to respect the constitution and stop insulting the great judges. How the Chief expects harmoney when the illegal and unconstitutional president is abusing the people of Pakistan. The people of Pakistan has rejeted this IBLEES retied general. Still he is residing in the army house and hatching conspiracies the elected representatives of the people.
How the chief expects harmoney when the constitution of Pakistan has been abused by one man. How would the people forget the moment when the Chief Justice was insulted in the army house. He was surrounded by the army generals including the current chief who is asking for harmoney.
Our memoiors are still fresh. If the chief wants harmoney then he sould teach his fellows to respect the constitution and the Chief Justice. He sould ask YAZID Musharraf to step down. The chief must understand that until and unless the army would detain the Chief Justice,harmoney would go miles away-hatred against the army would accelerate. The Chief must understand that resoration of the image of the army is very necessary for armoney. If the army wants to detain the Chief Jusice and his children for further days,hatred against the chief would become a time bomb.
There is no doubt in my mind that without the backing of State Department and the top army brass the detention of the Chief Justice is impossible. Musharraf was the Chief when he imposed emergency,army backed him. Thousands of lawyers were detained and insulted by Musharraf with the backing of the army.
If the chief wants harmoney,the amry should clearly distance itself from IBLEES Musharraf. The army ask the IBLEES of the day to surrender before the nation.
The army immediatly lift the siege of the House of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
2 Shirull Zaman Khan // Mar 8, 2008 at 11:14 am
SUFI ARE YOU TELLING THE ARMY CHIEF TO ARREST THE PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN ??
IF YOU WANT HIM TO ARREST MR.PARVAIZ MUSHARRAF [ PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN ] …THEN SAY IT LOUD AND CLEAR,.. MY FRIEND …WHY BEAT AROUND THE BUSH ??
3 Sufi // Mar 9, 2008 at 9:39 pm
The day is yet to come my dear.
4 ibrahim munir // May 9, 2008 at 2:00 am
lolz
5 najmi // May 9, 2008 at 9:34 am
S U F I
SINNER UNDER FALSE IDENTITY
Leave a Comment