The Hindu : International : I will remain Army Chief, says Musharraf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 19, 2004

International

International

I will remain Army Chief, says Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 18. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has formally declared he will remain as the Army Chief even after the expiry of the deadline of December 31. As part of a deal with Opposition parties, Gen. Musharraf in a televised address last year had pledged to relinquish the military post.

"I will remain in uniform," he told domestic Sindhi language television channel KTN on Friday. Gen. Musharraf said he would "soon" explain his reasons for his decision. "I will tell the nation where we were in the past; where we stand today and where we are headed in the future," he told the television channel. He asserted that his decision was in the interests of political stability and national solidarity.

A law is already in place to enable Gen. Musharraf continuing in the posts of President and Chief of Army Staff. Mainstream and religious opposition parties in the country have threatened to take to streets if Gen. Musharraf fails to honour his promise.

Gen. Musharraf attained age of superannuation in October 2001 when the country was under military rule and he was the Chief Executive and Army Chief. On October 2, 2001, the day United States launched military operations against the erstwhile Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Gen. Musharraf affected a major reshuffle in the military top brass and extended his own job as army chief.

His continuation as Army Chief became a major bone of contention between the government and the opposition parties after the October 2002 general election. Parliament was disrupted for over a year on the subject. In December 2003, days before the January 2004 SAARC Summit, Gen. Musharraf reached a pact with the religious parties under which he promised to doff uniform by year-end.

In the last few weeks there have been clear indications from Gen. Musharraf and his managers that he has no intention of giving up the military job. They said his presence, as Army Chief was needed to consolidate the political and economic reforms initiated in the last four years, to continue the fight against terrorism and to carry forward the peace process with India.

Opposition parties are united in their demand. However they are bitterly divided on the strategy they should adopt to achieve their objective. Two streams within the Opposition camps — religious parties under the umbrella of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and mainstream Opposition parties that are part of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) have launched separate agitational programmes demanding resignation of Gen. Musharraf from the Army.

However they continue to trade charges as to how are they actually helping Gen. Musharraf and the military. As a result their agitational programmes have been separate and made little public impact.

The release of Asif Ali Zardari, husband of Benazir Bhutto, on bail after being behind bars for over eight years and telephone contact between Gen. Musharraf and the Nawaz Sharif family living in exile in Saudi Arabia has created confusion within the ranks of the mainstream Opposition.

Statements by Mr. Zardari that general elections would be advanced from 2007 to 2005 and spate of reports in the media about `reconciliation efforts' by Gen. Musharraf with mainstream parties has only confounded the confusion in the Opposition ranks.

In a rebuff to Benazir Bhutto and her party Gen. Musharraf has asserted that there was no question of advancement of the general elections. He has also assured the ruling combine that neither Ms. Bhutto nor Mr. Nawaz Sharif would be allowed to return from exile. He has asked the ruling party to consolidate the organisation at all levels and prepare to observe 2006 as centenary year of the Muslim League.

State of affairs in the opposition was best reflected today when the ARD chairman and vice- chairman, Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Makhdoom Amin Fahim, hit out at the religious parties and asserted that the Alliance's commitment to democracy was second to none.

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