Given all the tensions of recent weeks, it is perhaps no surprise that Pakistan’s rumour mill is filled with talk of yet another military coup. This time, however, the multiple crises may be too much for even the army to chew.
What began in the same way as so many rumours in Pakistan do – with numerous curt, anonymous emails, text messages and iftar dinner conversations – snowballed into something of a storm. It may have been just a bit of extra masala for the evening news, but it appeared that Pakistan was heading for yet another military takeover.
With floods having uprooted around a tenth of the population and devastated Pakistan’s vital agricultural sector, which accounts for around 70% of the country’s exports, it seemed a logical conclusion. So much so that Altaf Hussain, the none-too-shy leader of the Urdu community’s Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) political party, even went so far as to invite the army to declare martial law.
The army didn’t take the bait, although London-based Hussain may have caused a state of emergency of his own with political opponents, eager to capitalise on the gaffe, calling for him to be charged with treason. Consider then the dilemma for the ruling Pakistan Peoples party, the dominant party in a federal coalition government that includes the MQM.
There is no doubt that civilian leaders are struggling with events in the country. Along with the floods there has been an upsurge in bombings targeting Pakistan’s Shia Muslim minority in Lahore, Karachi and Quetta. According to the ruling Awami National party in Khyber Pakhtunkwha province, every one of its sitting MPs has received death threats, while a string of fresh bombings has claimed 30 lives in the tribal areas. The attacks appear to have targeted influential local tribal leaders considered rivals of the Pakistan Taliban insurgency.
In the neighbouring, restive province of Balochistan, itself engulfed by another insurgency, the government of President Zardari has faced further humiliation. A day after announcing a “Swat-style” military operation in the province outside the Balochistan chief minister’s office on Wednesday, federal interior minister Rehman Malik was forced to back down and promised instead a limited military offensive that would respect “the legitimate demands” of the ethnic Baloch community. Part of the proposal included the devolution of authority for the paramilitary Frontier Corp, widely despised by ethnic Baloch, to the provincial government. But even that was not enough for the Balochistan government, which moved quickly to quash any talk of military operations.
Re: Is Pakistan heading for a coup?
If western nations survived the Great Depression and the World Wars without army rule, so can Pakistan. The Pak Army will take over when they get the go-ahead from America. The floods, state of the economy and other excuses are just that: excuse.
Re: Is Pakistan heading for a coup?
Army has too much to handle already. Taking over the government would be stretching itself too thin.
They should concentrate on their job. ISI has failed miserably in stopping daily occurrences of bomb blasts. The 'premier' intelligence agency has not cracked a single case of terrorism, put any criminal to trial let alone convict them. Army has failed in stopping cross border transit of people, ammunition and supplies from Afghanistan. Operations in Baluchistan have aggravated the already volatile situation there.
Please do your job dear generals!
Re: Is Pakistan heading for a coup?
Pakistan is still surviving crisis after crisis i don't know how its possible any other country would be finished by now.
Re: Is Pakistan heading for a coup?
anything could be possible... its Pakistan
Re: Is Pakistan heading for a coup?
Or should I ask! if media (local and international) is preparing the minds of the masses for the coup???
Re: Is Pakistan heading for a coup?
SAS PLANS RESCUE MISSION AMID PAKISTAN COUP FEARS
Soldiers are standing by to evacuate Britons from Pakistan amid fears of a military coup
Sunday September 12,2010
By James Murray
SAS soldiers are standing by for an emergency evacuation of Britons from Pakistan amid fears of a military coup.
As the country struggles with the twin problems of severe floods and terrorist activity, British troops across the border in Afghanistan are drawing up plans to remove staff from our Islamabad embassy within four hours.
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Britons working in the country have been put on a register and will be told to gather at an assembly point at a time of crisis.
The plan is a sign of Pakistan’s political fragility .
Britain’s High Commissioner Adam Thomson and his staff have been working round the clock to ease the plight of those made homeless by floods. Up to eight million are said to be still dependent on aid.
Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari met Prime Minister David Cameron at Chequers last month and drove home the point that his country was desperately in need of trade, as well as aid, and *particularly wanted access to European markets.
He is desperate for an economic lift and fears that without it, many young men could fall into the hands of extremists.
There are concerns that hardliners in Pakistan’s army are becoming impatient with the crisis and want faster solutions and a more determined effort to stamp out the terrorist menace.
A diplomatic source said: ‘‘There are more and more rumours that some people in the military view a military takeover as the best way to bring greater stability.”