What next, Musharraf!?

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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This is the biggest question at the moment…what will be the next course of action taken by Musharraf…he is staying quiet at the moment and keeping his cards very close to his chest…can the guppies specially the pro Musharraf one’s speculate on his next course of actions..

Things are becoming very clear as far as the number game is concerned or his chances of survival from the judicial front are concerned:

  1. The first logical conclusion everybody is anticipating is he will honour his words and step down himself as he promised prior to elections that he will quit if he thinks he is not needed by new government…the newly formed coalition could not send him a more clear signal than what they sent yesterday..

  2. They intend to restore the judiciary to pre Nov 3rd status and let the judiciary take care of his legal status…which clearly will be very difficult to defend..

  3. The number game in parliament and senate is also likely to touch easily the required 2/3 majority required to impeach the president if the president takes the matter to those extremes…

  4. He is evidently weakened to take any drastic action now as he is no longer in uniform and it is highly unlikely that the army will support any furthur illegal attempt to stay in power…furthurmore the coalition has made it clear that the first task they will perform is clip down the powers of the president after which even if he stays for a short period he will be totally powerless..

The editorial of The News describe the Musharraf current position like this:

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=98614

Show of strength

Thursday, February 28, 2008
The writing is very much on the wall now – for President Pervez Musharraf that is. Wednesday’s gathering in Islamabad of main parliamentary parties in the new National Assembly with leaders Mian Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Asfandyar Wali Khan in attendance, set up a new milestone in our chequered history and must be welcomed as a sign of maturity of the political class. That the show of strength had a dual purpose is obvious. It sent a clear message to the president, a few hundred yards away, that the numbers game in the new parliament is over and now he has to summon the National Assembly and invite these parties to form a government as soon as possible. The other message was more personal.** It was to Mr Musharraf to see for himself that his opponents had outclassed and outsmarted him and if he was true to his word, he should resign quietly and gracefully exit into history without creating further turmoil and uncertainty in the country.**

The numbers demonstrated by the PPP, the PML-N and the ANP at the gathering was perilously close to a two-thirds majority in the new National Assembly. Out of 272, they had 171 present while 181 would have been the magic number. Some seats are still under dispute and given the power of the governments at the centre, Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and even Balochistan, it would be no big deal to cross the 181 mark. Even the numbers in the Senate are rising with the forward blocs and independents swarming towards the new power centres. One resolution in the Senate, against caretaker PM Mohammedmian Soomro’s principal secretary’s appointment, was passed unanimously on Wednesday. Thus the new political reality is that the anti-Musharraf coalition may soon be in a position to amend the constitution and remove all the distortions that were forced into it after the October 1999 coup. But all this process will become painful and politically destabilizing if President Musharraf, and the remnants of his camp, resist the change and create hurdles by virtue of the powers that he has acquired during the years.

The national mandate is clear and Mr Musharraf would do well to see the writing on the wall, recognize the new reality and understand that he is no longer in a position to stop the change. In fact, he would do well to rise to the occasion and gracefully either let the process take its natural and logical course or quit and take a safe exit.** It will be a calamity if he pulls the nation into divisive directions and in the process diverts all the energies of the newly elected politicians from tackling the gigantic issues that confront them to fighting a useless and needless battle with one person. Sometimes one can serve the nation better by allowing others to do the job. **

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Re: What next for Musharraf

Resign now and save his face to some extent or may be some jihadi does him favour by assasinating him.

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Re: What next for Musharraf

[QUOTE]
The national mandate is clear and Mr Musharraf would do well to see the writing on the wall, recognize the new reality and understand that he is no longer in a position to stop the change. In fact, he would do well to rise to the occasion and gracefully either let the process take its natural and logical course or quit and take a safe exit.
[/QUOTE]

The title should be rather: "What next, Musharrf!".

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Re: What next for Musharraf

I agree with the suggestion and request the mods to please change the title as per the request of Ali_R bhai saheb...

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Re: What next for Musharraf

This is the bit iam worried about, our American ad Zionist friends knows how to use a man in power and how to use him when he is powerless.

Musharaf Alive is powerless, which means he is useless for them, but an attempt of assassination or his assassination will give Americans all the reasons they require to intefere directly in Pakistan.

he can save his life and Pakistan's future only if he go... Alive

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Re: What next for Musharraf

Very good analysis...but I am afraid since 9th March 2007 his ability to make good judgements is questionable...he seems to be too much obssessed with retaing his kursi...with or without power....and is totally unable to see the country interest..

I'm sad b'coz
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Re: What next for Musharraf

Good analysis of the dying days of the dictators hated regime

Mr Sharif and Asif Zardari are very mindful of not creating a situation which embarrasses in the Pakistan Army vis-‡-vis Gen Musharraf but they both believe that sooner than later he will be on his way out as there are hardly any cards left in his hands to play, except to create rifts in the PPP-PML-N ranks and capitalise on them.

Thus, they are both moving slow and may even look compromising at times when they talk of working with Mr Musharraf as they realise that the US and western capitals are very nervous with the thought of Musharraf quitting the scene prematurely.

Once the first goal posts are crossed, the new parliament is sworn in and government formation is completed in an atmosphere of harmony and trust, political pressure will automatically force Musharraf to come down from his high pedestal and work with those very persons whom he described as rogues and villains, corrupt and incompetent.

In such a Ghulam Ishaq Khan-like situation, with no secret agency doing the dirty job for him, with all his good-for-nothing political allies vanquished from the scene, with his team of retired bureaucrats jumping ship like rats, it would be hard for Musharraf to keep going. He does not need to be pushed over the cliff. He will himself fall and accept the generous offer of a safe exit that his former constituency will always give him.

CHANDA MAMU DOOOOR KE..
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Re: What next, Musharraf!?

Excellent piece on current Musharraf dilemma analysis :k:
This pretty much sums It up, I guess.

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Re: What next, Musharraf!?

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Re: What next, Musharraf!?

Could you tell me about being thankless to Musharraf is appropriate now?

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Re: What next, Musharraf!?

Scenario like this for none but second to Quaid-e-Azam, the great president of all time, with un-precendented economic growht etc is quite scary. For him night mare has just started.:(

main ki karan....:bummer:
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Re: What next for Musharraf

No talk of assassination or impeachment please. While it's good that elections have taken place and a new civilian set-up will soon be running the affairs of government, let's not kid ourselves about most of the people that have been re-elected (NS, Zardari etc.). They are the same crooks (both NS and Zardari extremely corrupt + Zardari also implicated in various murders in Sind) that looted and plundered national treasury in the past and for them now to be talking about impeaching Mush (who I admit has made a few mistakes incl. attack on judiciary, emergency, NRO) seems a bit rich. And let's not forget that NS had himself become a sort of civilian dictator in 1999. He should have been fired then but by the judiciary rather than the military.

Amin Fahim yes starts with a 'clean' sheet and must be given time to do his job. l just hope that once he is confirmed as PM, Zardari assumes a more passive role (cf. Sonia Gandhi) and does not meddle in the day-to-day affairs of government. Knowing Zardari I know it's wishful.

And as far as numbers are concerned, the new parliament can neither impeach Mush nor get rid of article 58 (2b) atleast for now since you need 2/3 majority in both national assembly and Senate (where PML-Q is clearly in majority). Senate elections are not due for another 2 years.

So NS rather than indulging in confrontational politics should let the new government do it's job and for once play his own role in strengthening democratic institutions and judiciary. NS must not let past hang-ups dictate his future policies. As far as I am concerned only those judges that refused to take oath on the first PCO come out of all this mess unscathed

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Re: What next, Musharraf!?

I do not wish for him to be assassinated because his assassinations will have implications on Pakistan long after. I wish he would step down for his own sake and for the sake of the country. He may play a part in nominating the next President who he thinks is a better choice, i'm sure the parties will be willing to compromise and work with a new face and ideology.

We do thank him for his immediate service following 9/11 and saving the nation as a whole. But the time has come to leave that wildcard, because the "war on terror" seems like an endless war with so many boogie-men involved who have yet to be captured. His retirement will give the Pakistan an opportunity to revise its policy on how it wants to continue with the War on Terror and determine the goals that are achieveable, and discard the unrealistic goals.

Robert Gates suggestion of yesterday urging the new political forces NOT to hold dialogue with Taliban has pretty much failed, as they have all refused any such sentiment. Everyone across the board believes the force alone will not accomplish peace. If Nato and US can hold talks thru Jirga in Afghanistan, then why not Pakistan? All past attempts of Peace Talks may have failed because there was no will to carry on with it. The new political forces may be able to reinstate the lost trust between the two parties and the result hopefully would be that local Taliban retreat and help rid the foreign militants.

Lets hope for the best. Bottomline: Musharraf should resign, but before he resigns, he should restore the Judiciary, end the House Arrest for A.Q. Khan leaving the supervision on his activities intact, that way he may be able to leave behind a legacy that he made mistakes but rectified them.

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Re: What next, Musharraf!?

[QUOTE]
We do thank him for his immediate service following 9/11 and saving the nation as a whole. But the time has come to leave that wildcard, because the "war on terror" seems like an endless war with so many boogie-men involved who have yet to be captured. His retirement will give the Pakistan an opportunity to revise its policy on how it wants to continue with the War on Terror and determine the goals that are achieveable, and discard the unrealistic goals.
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Unfortunately his lotas are not going to give up that easily.
More support for the dictator.

[QUOTE]
PML-Q, allies launch ‘save president’ campaign
ISLAMABAD, Feb 28: The Pakistan Muslim League-Q and its allies have started a campaign to muster support for President Pervez Musharraf both inside and outside parliament in the face of other parties’ demand for his resignation.

Some PML-Q leaders met the president at the Army House twice on Wednesday. One of the meetings which took place at midnight involved MNAs elect Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain from Gujrat, Sumaira Malik from Vehari, Sheikh Waqas from Jhang and Riaz Fitiana from Toba Tek Singh.

The meetings were followed on Thursday by a flurry of activity at the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who had invited a number of politicians to a luncheon meeting.

Party sources said that some newly elected MNAs and senators and senior leaders of other allied parties, except the PPP-S, discussed at length ways of helping the president out of the situation that he is now facing. Prominent among those who attended the meeting were MQM senators Col (retd) Tahir Hussain Mashhadi and Mohammad Ali Brohi, Justice (retd) Abdur Razzaq Thaheem of PML-F, former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Senator Salim Saifullah Khan, Sumaira Malik, Hamid Nasir Chattha and Mohammad Ali Durrani.

Later, talking to journalists, Chaudhry Shujaat said that the PML-Q and its allies would remain united in parliament to play the role of a positive opposition.

About his meetings with President Musharraf, he said that the president was the constitutional head of the state and everyone would have to accept his position. The president, he said, was ready to receive leaders of any party who wished to meet him.

He claimed that the statement of PML-Q’s Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Sayed about a possible support for a move to repeal 58(2) b article was his personal opinion and not the party’s policy.

He said the article was made part of the Constitution as a check and balance lever to ensure that no government went above the law of the land.

He said he had called MQM chief Altaf Hussain, PML-F leader Pir Pagara, NPP’s Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and PPP-S leader Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao to discuss the matter and they had assured him that the erstwhile coalition partners would remain united in opposition.

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