Bhutto: Musharraf Must Resign From Army
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says she's prepared to share power with Pervez Musharraf, but only if he resigns from the military and becomes a civilian. That may complicate a tenuous deal Musharraf made with Bhutto that strengthened his hand against the radical Islamists, and it may leave him out of power entirely within months:
Pakistan's exiled opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, has said she can share power with President Pervez Musharraf, but only if he quits as army chief.Ms Bhutto's comments, in a television interview, followed a secret meeting with General Musharraf on Friday in the United Arab Emirates. Confirmation of the encounter by a cabinet minister intensified media speculation on the future of Pakistan's troubled government. "Deal done, sealed," said one newspaper headline.
But there was little hard information about what transpired in the meeting, which followed months of quiet negotiations. The sticking point appears to be whether Gen Musharraf can retain his dual role as president and head of the army. In an interview with the local KTN station late on Saturday, Ms Bhutto said: "We do not accept President Musharraf in uniform. Our stand is that, and I stick to my stand."
In theory, a deal would make sense for both leaders. Gen Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999, wants to remain as president after elections due within the next six months. But after a series of political bungles and rising Islamist violence, he is unpopular and isolated.
Musharraf finds himself caught in a catch-22. Had he decided to back democracy al recently as a couple of years ago, he may have been able to get himself elected to the presidency without having to build an alliance with Bhutto at all. His popularity has descended rapidly, though, and now he needs to entice the democrats into this alliance to keep his head above water. They want a return to civilian government above all, and he has little choice but to acquiesce.
Don't expect the PPP to budge on this issue, either. They don't want the military to think that they can get away with coups d'etat. The precedent must be expunged, and the PPP can't do that if they accept Musharraf as legitimate while wearing both hats. It's a deal-killer, and everyone understands it.
That leaves Musharraf with few options for the future. He will not win an election for president now or six months from now. If he gives up control of the military, he will quickly lose all ties to power. If he wants to remain in control of the military, he would have to resign the presidency immediately, rather than wait the six months to the election, and that could create a number of problems in Pakistan in the resultant political vacuum.
If the alliance is to hold, the two sides need to resolve the conundrum quickly. The Islamists remain on the march, and the longer it takes to form the political front to fight them, the weaker it becomes. Their terrorist attacks create a reality on the ground that vacillation and delay only intensifies.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on July 30, 2007 5:41 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)
Comments (2)
Posted by KW64 | July 30, 2007 10:27 AM
There is a lack of MSM coverage of this as well as a paucity of comments amoung CQ readers, but this really is a very important development. Pakistan is crucial to our logistics in Afghanistan and crucial to any hope to reel in the central Al Queda leadership. The blessing of Bhutto for action in the tribal regions could be crucial to maintaining public support for it An army commander resignation by Pervez would be a real feather in Bhutto's cap as well as win her a ticket home to Pakistan to resume a likely dominant political role.
I think formerly complaisant Pakistani moderates are scared that the Islamists are actually a threat outside the tribal regions after seeing what was going on at the Red Mosque in Islamabad itself. The opportunity to win back their support is there for someone who deals effectively with the threat.
The Islamists have to be really worried about this potential alliance getting in line against them after their ill-advised declaration of war on Pakistan's government after the Red Mosque. Instead of chasing Perves from power, they give him a chance to take decisive action against them that just maybe could restore Pervez' acceptability to the public.
Of course, this may be too optimistic as it assumes an political escape artist act worthy of a Houdini by Pervez. Resigning his army leadership could lead to a new President, new Prime Minister and new Army Commander that again seek to accomodate the extremists at the expense of US and Afghan interests. That could force us to do once again what we did after 9/11 when we told the Pakistani government that they were either with us or against us but either way we are going after Al Queda and that govenment's that fail to control attacks on others by groups in their territory forfeit their sovereignty to the degree that others must deal with the groups doing the attacking.
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Posted by Akber A. Kassam | August 5, 2007 9:54 PM
Former priminister of Pakistan Ms.Benazir Bhutto, her husband and his party "PPP" are the biggest crooks and biggest looters, under no circumstances Pervez Musharraf should share power with these crooks. Their poilcies is to remove Musharraf from the power, they are the once who are creating these problems behind the back to President Pervez Musharraf.!!!!