Military wishes to see Zardari out, but through legal means; Military Sources

Military wishes to see Zardari out, but through legal means; Military Sources

Islamabad, Thursday, December 22, 2011: Pakistan’s army, often referred to as establishment by the government and opposition, is fed up with the President Asif Ali Zardari and wants him out of the office. However, the army only
wants this through legal means and is not interested in a military coup which has been repeatedly toppling elected governments throughout the history of the country.

Tensions are rising between Pakistan’s civilian leaders and its generals over a memo that accused the army of plotting a coup after the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May.

“Who isn’t fed up with Zardari? It’s not just the opposition and the man on the street but people within the government too,” said one military source who asked not to be named.

“But there has to be a proper way. No action is being planned by the army. Even if we tried, it would be very unpopular and not just with the government and the opposition but most Pakistanis too.”

The Pakistani military spokesman declined comment.

General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has pledged to keep the military out of Pakistani politics since taking over as army chief in 2007.

Any coup – Pakistan has had three since independence in 1947 – could further tarnish the military’s public image which has already taken a battering after the Bin Laden operation, widely seen in Pakistan as a violation of sovereignty.

But the army remains the arbiter of power and analysts say it has plenty of ways to pressure Zardari to step down, especially if a link is established between him and the memo, which sought the Pentagon’s help in averting a feared
coup.

Businessman Mansoor Ijaz, writing in a column in the
Financial Times on October 10, said a senior Pakistani diplomat had asked that a memo be delivered to the Pentagon with a plea for US help to stave off a military coup in the days after the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May.

Ijaz later identified the diplomat as Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani who denied involvement but resigned over the controversy. No evidence has emerged that the military was plotting a coup and the Pentagon at
the time dismissed the memo as not credible.

Friction between Pakistan’s civilian government and military have bedeviled the nuclear-armed South Asian country for almost its entire existence, with the military ruling for more than half its 64-year history after a series of
coups.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=7031

Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen on Dec 22 2011. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry