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Pakistan : Passage of law on Musharraf’s uniform |
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Pakistan made a law on November 30 that will allow President Musharraf to stay
on as Army Chief despite his pledge that he would quit his military post by the end of the year. Musharraf was on an official visit to Latin America, and in his absence Acting President Mohammadmian Soomro, who is the Chairman of the Upper House of Parliament or Senate, signed the Bill that was passed last month into law. “The President can now keep both offices”, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said. Islamist and mainstream Opposition parties had opposed the law letting Musharraf, who came to power in a bloodless coup five years ago, to be both President and Army Chief. They say it will hinder democracy in Pakistan.
Musharraf has said he has not yet taken a final decision on whether to quit as Army Chief but experts say he can now legally justify keeping both positions. Under a deal with an alliance of Islamist parties last year, Musharraf pledged to take off his military uniform by the end of 2004 in return for support for constitutional changes validating his rule and giving him extensive powers. Musharraf recently suggested that he was no longer bound by that pledge, saying quitting the Army could undermine his authority in the war on terror as well as his ability to push forward a nascent peace process with India. Opposition groups denounced the signing of the Bill and said it dealt a serious blow to democracy in Pakistan, which has been ruled by the military for more than half of the 57 years it has been an independent State.
The signing of the Bill came just three days after the main Islamist Opposition kicked off a public campaign to try to force Musharraf to quit the powerful Army position. The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), a grouping made up of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and other secular parties, has planned protest rallies during the coming days. About 10,000 members of the United Action Forum (UAF), a coalition of six radical Islamic groups, held a rally in Karachi on November 28 asking the General to quit his Army post. The coalition holds 77 seats in the 342-seat National Assembly.
Despite ideological differences, the PPP-led ARD and the Islamic alliance, MMA, are trying to find common ground for a joint struggle against Musharraf. But, the release last month of Asif Ali Zardari, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s husband, after eight years in jail, has triggered speculation that Musharraf was reaching out to secular groups among the Opposition. Musharraf also reached out to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Mulsim League last week in what was seen as a conscious effort to consolidate the MMA. The release of Zardari and a contact with the Sharif family in Saudi Arabia were seen by political observers as a bid to divide the Opposition. Benazir Bhutto has, however, denied any secret deal with Musharraf for the release of her husband. She declared that Zardari was freed unconditionally and speculations that a secret deal was struck were wrong.
Zardari for his part has said Ms. Bhutto will end her exile, return to the country and lead her party to victory in the next elections which, he predicted, will be held next year. “Ms. Bhutto will make history by becoming Premier for the third time”, declared Zardari. Ms. Bhutto who governed Pakistan twice lives in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai after she left the country in 1998 when convicted in absentia on corruption and other charges. In spite of a denial about any secret deal with the Government, in a significant political development, Zardari has contacted the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid-e-Azam) for talks with the PPP. He telephoned PML vice-president Kabil Ali Wasti and the two leaders agreed that political dialogue and national reconciliation could solve all problems.
Ms. Ghinwa Bhutto, wife of the slain brother of Benazir Bhutto who heads the PPP(Shaheed Bhutto), has however, ruled out any reconciliation with Zardari. She has alleged that his party and the PML (Nawaz) have compromised with the Army. She further said those who are protesting on the uniform issue were responsible for strengthening Army rule.
A respected political analyst of Pakistan, Ayaz Amir, is of the view that Gen. Musharraf could not have released Zardari without some important motive. He says the Musharraf regime held on to him as a pawn or a likely bargaining chip in the belief that at some point in the future, his release might have to be traded for some advantage to the Government. This is precisely what has happened. Zardari was released not because Army House has been swept by some new spirit of reconciliation but in pursuit of the Government’s one-point agenda of keeping the Opposition divided and off balance on the uniform issue. Ayaz Amir says Musharraf is holding out an olive branch to both the PPP and the PML-N not because he is willing to give or concede anything but because, as always he wants to take something. He wants them to acquiesce in his rule and accept him as President. Once the two parties do that, he has no quarrel with them. And once they become pragmatic or patriotic he will have no further use for the maulanas of the MMA who, in effect, have been his real partners, voting for the 17th Amendment and legitimizing his rule, thereby preventing the Opposition from speaking with one voice on important political questions. Not that the two parties are likely to be as foolish or as easily beguiled as the President’s inner circle, also known as the “core group”, would like them to be. But a distinction between the two parties is in order. For obvious reasons, while the distance between Army House and the Sharifs may be considered unbridgeable, the PPP, from day one, has stood for cooperation with Musharraf. It was Musharraf who spurned Benazir Bhutto, sparing no opportunity to denounce her and her party for everything under the sun.
Now of course, completely different vibes emanate from Musharraf’s core group, encouraging seasoned weathermen to play on the theme of reconciliation. This indicates no change of heart around Musharraf’s round table, only a change of emphasis on how best to preserve and protect the present order.
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