Word: musharraf
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...considered one of the most vulnerable U.S. diplomatic outposts; in fact, most American diplomatic personnel were evacuated from the country as a precaution before last year's cruise missile strikes on Bin Laden's Afghanistan camps. But the incident is a major challenge to the authority of General Parvez Musharraf, who has done his best to assure the West that his coup will stabilize Pakistan. Foreign observers had been uncertain of how Musharraf planned to deal with the country's fundamentalist movement and with the Taliban. But no military leader is likely to tolerate irregulars running around his capital firing...
Governing Pakistan's a lot easier when your predecessor isn't around. Coup leader General Parvez Musharraf on Wednesday announced that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will be charged with conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping. The charges, which arise from the alleged attempt by Nawaz to stop the general's plane from landing in Pakistan after firing him as commander of the Pakistani military, carry the death penalty. "This appears to be General Musharraf?s solution to the problem of what to do about Nawaz," says TIME New Delhi correspondent Maseeh Rahman. "The general had to find...
...will Pakistanis respond to the charges? "The allegation that Nawaz tried to stop General Musharraf's plane from landing in Pakistan will be taken very seriously by Pakistanis," says Rahman. "After all, that would have forced it to land in India, which would have put the head of Pakistan's armed forces into the hands of their enemy." And it's certainly a more effective means of neutralizing any political challenge from Nawaz than charging him with corruption would have been. After all, the idea that politicians are corrupt is hardly considered breaking news in Pakistan...
Devolution of power is probably the most dubious of Musharraf's numerous justifications for prolonging military rule. Past military regimes in multi-ethnic Pakistan either overrode or distorted constitutional provisions for the distribution of power between the center and the units of the federation, undermining national cohesion and dividing society along ethnic and territorial lines. To retain power, the Musharraf regime will require and will inevitably exercise centralized control, if not for any other reason than to ensure the continued support of its main constituency, the armed forces. To truly devolve power, the regime would deprive itself of its control...
...Pakistani military intervene to save democracy as its current army chief claims? Musharraf willingly accepted the position of army chief, superceding two senior officers when Sharif dismissed General Karamat in October 1998, and only acted when he faced a summary dismissal. Nor did his corps commanders have any objections to working under Sharif until the Prime Minister made the grave error of encroaching on the military's autonomy. Will the military deliver "true" democracy to Pakistan, as Musharraf has pledged? In the past fifty years, Pakistan's fragile democratic base has eroded as a result of repeated military interventions. With...