Word: musharraf
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Military coups used to be messy affairs, rife with panic and barricades and bloodshed. After the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Pakistan last week, there was cheering. In the span of 48 hours, army chief General Pervez Musharraf detained Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, sacked the Cabinet, suspended Parliament and the constitution, and imposed virtual martial law. Yet most Pakistanis barely shrugged. Shops remained open. Telephone service was restored. Children went to school. In Sharif's hometown of Lahore, people danced in the streets and distributed candies to celebrate the coup. "We don't want democracy," said Mohammed Tariq...
Even in Western capitals, the usual jitters were tempered by widespread relief that Sharif was gone. Although U.S. Ambassador William Milam met with Musharraf to inform him of Washington's "profound regret about the military takeover," the U.S. was not all that upset by last week's events. The Asian subcontinent has been a source of heightened anxiety for the U.S. since the spring of 1998, when India tested nuclear devices and Pakistan responded with its own nuclear tests. The two countries' dispute over the territory of Kashmir brought them to the brink of all-out war this year...
...Sunday, General Parvez Musharraf addressed the nation he now heads following Thursday's coup intending to, as they say in Congress, revise and extend his remarks. "This is not martial law," Musharraf told the country, but rather "another path toward democracy." Further, he made the surprising announcement that he would pull back troops from Pakistan's tense border with India and seek talks with his nuclear neighbor. India, which ordered its troops on high alert immediately following the coup, has so far reacted cautiously to the news. After two days of vainly casting about for a credible civilian administration...
...credible civilian administration leaves Washington and its allies facing an uncomfortable choice: Does the West opt to isolate and pressurize an unpredictable military junta in a newly nuclear power that exists in a perpetual state of low-key hostilities with its nearest neighbor; or does it work with General Musharraf in the hope that he can be coaxed back onto the democratic path. Tradition points to the latter course. After all, Washington worked closely with the last military government, led by General Zia ul-Haq, which ceded to civilian rule in 1988, and successive U.S. administrations have recognized the Pakistani...
...next political victim. As students and followers of Mujib rioted in Dacca to protest the escape of the majors, Khondakar resigned and was replaced by Sayem. Real power, however, seemed to lie with a ten-man military council. The council's heads included Major General Khalid Musharraf, who almost immediately arrested and displaced his boss, Lieut. General Zia-Ur Rahman, as army chief of staff...