Musharraf’s trial a test case between civilian, military supremacy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is presently going through a cold war between its civilians and the military as General (retd) Musharraf’s high treason trial has become a test case on whether the country is heading towards civilian supremacy and the rule of law.

“It’s a transition from military supremacy to civilian rule and rule of law,” a top PML-N leader told The News on condition of not being named.

He added that if the government gives a safe exit to Musharraf then how could you justify trying thousands of others, including former President Asif Ali Zardari, ex-Prime Ministers Yusuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Amin Faheem.

Key PML-N leaders agree that Musharraf’s treason trial has become the main irritant between the civilian and military leadership.

Despite top PML-N leaders, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan, having confidence and trust in General Raheel Sharif, rarely does anyone in the party deny tensions in the civilian-military relationship.

It is said that some influential pro-Musharraf elements are putting pressure on General Raheel to get Musharraf off the hook at any cost.

The PML-N, which has always been demanding Musharraf’s trial under Article 6 for twice abrogating the Constitution, today stands divided on the issue.

Amongst the senior PML-N leaders, many are now in favour of letting Musharraf go abroad to save the system. A small minority, however, insists that letting Musharraf off the hook means seriously compromising the transition to civilian supremacy and badly denting the struggle for rule of law and constitutionalism.

Informed sources said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wants to leave Musharraf’s fate to the legal course and believes that any concession by the executive of the former dictator would mean compromising the rule of law.

The sources said that for the same reason, the prime minister decided to challenge in the SC the SHC decision of removing Musharraf’s name from the ECL in 15 days.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan are said be the leading voices in the PML-N demanding leniency in Musharraf’s high treason trial.

These voices fear that Musharraf’s case may lead to the cropping up of serious misunderstandings between the civilian and military leadership which may endanger the future of democracy as was pointed out by Mahmood Khan Achakzai in the National Assembly.

Many politicians and media observers believe that certain pro-Musharraf elements are allegedly behind the recent but sudden emergence of the anti-government, anti-system alliance of the PML-Q and PAT and the possible joining in of Sheikh Rashid to exert pressure on the PML-N government.

As highlighted by editorials in leading newspapers, a campaign has been launched recently to suggest that the PML-N government has failed to deliver and unless removed Pakistan will collapse. These editorials term this view as “nonsense” and rightly point out what they call the “so-called sins” of the NS government which prominently include Musharraf’s trial.

It is suggested by the PML-Q-PAT, Shaikh Rashid and others, including some in the media, the last one-year rule of Nawaz Sharif has been the worst in the history of Pakistan. They argue that the government must be removed and the system be overhauled to save the country from collapse.

The last one-year rule of the federal and provincial governments may not be up to the mark, but it is generally believed and even authenticated by the international agencies that Pakistan has improved as against what it was under the previous regime. Transparency International reported less corruption in Pakistan and there have been no mega scandals of corruption during the last one year. The World Bank, IMF and other international institutions see an improvement in Pakistan’s economy.

Accountability and governance have been the weak areas of the government but still, they have not been as bad as was the situation during the previous regime.

With the recent emergence of the thoroughly known trio—the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, Allama Tahirul Qadri from Canada and Sheikh Rashid of Lal Haveli—warnings are being issued by the likes of Raza Rabbani, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, I A Rehman and others that if the present system is derailed it would be a serious blow not merely to the system but to the Federation and its unity.

Ukraine orders civilian corridors in war-ravaged east

KIEV: Ukraine´s new Western-backed president Tuesday ordered the creation of humanitarian corridors in the separatist east that could save civilians and advance his plan to end nearly two months of fighting by the end of the week.

Petro Poroshenko´s initiative meets a major demand put forward by Moscow and helps address growing concern among rights groups about Kiev´s use of tanks and air power in heavily populated areas to suppress the pro-Russian insurgency.

But the 48-year-old chocolate baron and political veteran stopped short of accepting the Kremlin´s request to allow Russian aid into the eastern rustbelt -- a move Kiev fears could be used to help arm the rebels.

"In order to avoid new victims in the zone of the anti-terrorist operation, the president has ordered the responsible ministers to bring about all necessary conditions for civilians who want to leave," Poroshenko´s office said in a statement.

Russia said the decision was "welcome" but left room for concern that Poroshenko might only step up his offensive once civilians leave for safer parts of Ukraine.

"Military operations are continuing and even intensifying in a number of cases," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after meeting his German and Ukrainian counterparts in Saint Petersburg.

But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he saw "the light at the end of the tunnel" and a "readiness from all sides to act to de-escalate the crisis".

Poroshenko has unveiled plans to end a rebellion that has killed more than 200 and shaken the very foundation of the splintered ex-Soviet state by the end of his first week in office.

The peace push came after the first of what are meant to be nearly daily meetings with Moscow´s ambassador to Kiev and a representative from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The high-stakes negotiations include efforts to stave off a Russian gas cut that would also impact Europe and plunge his economically-devastated country into even deeper recession.

A marathon round of EU-mediated gas talks broke up in Brussels early Tuesday for consultations and another session is due to begin at 1900 GMT.

‘Qaeda’ gunmen kill 12 Yemen soldiers, civilian: security

ADEN: Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen killed 12 Yemeni soldiers and a civilian on Thursday in a southern province where troops have been battling the militants since late April, a security official said.

The militants attacked a checkpoint near the Shabwa province village of Bayhan with automatic rifles, also wounding a number of soldiers, the official said.

The army has been engaged in a major ground offensive against Al-Qaeda in Shabwa and neighbouring Abyan province in a bid to expel it from smaller towns and villages that escaped a previous sweep in 2012.

Civilian, military leadership on same page for development: PM

Gwadar: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Thursday that the civilian and military leadership was on the same page for development in Pakistan.

During a meeting over a development project, Prime Minister Sharif expressed commitment to turn Gwadar into a free port like Hong Kong and Singapore.

Earlier upon his arrival in Gwadar, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was welcomed by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif.

The prime minister arrived at the PNS Akram Base alongside federal ministers Ishaq Dar and Ahsan Iqbal. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was greeted by Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and other provincial ministers.

Bomb attack in Cairo wounds 2 police, civilian

CAIRO: Two Egyptian policemen and a civilian were wounded in a bomb attack targeting a security checkpoint in central Cairo on Tuesday, officials and a medic said.

The device, which was placed between two cars near the checkpoint at Al-Galaa Square in Dokki neighbourhood, exploded at about 7:15 am (0515 GMT), a security official said.

Previously, security officials said that assailants threw a homemade bomb at the checkpoint.

Egypt has been rocked by a series of bombings and shootings carried out by militants since the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July.

The military-installed authorities say militants have killed about 500 people since the overthrow of Morsi.

Most militant attacks have been in the restive Sinai Peninsula, but in recent months brazen attacks have also been launched farther afield in the Nile Delta and in the capital Cairo.

Civilian leaders have the last word in decision-making

 

KARACHI: Civilian leaders have the last word in decision-making, said Kamran Khan in his programme ‘Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath’ on Friday.
He said observers say framing of charges by the court against former president Pervez Musharraf and the government’s decision to decline his request for travel abroad point towards the fact that Pakistan’s civilian leadership is playing the central role in the decision-making process.

The military leadership had advised the government regarding Gen (retd) Musharraf’s travel abroad saying since charges have been framed against Musharraf and the trial is to proceed so Musharraf should be allowed to go abroad to visit his ailing mother. But the civilian leadership, especially Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his political associates thought that in view of the political situation obtaining in the country and in view of the supremacy of the law and the constitution in the country, the request should be declined and Musharraf should not be allowed to go abroad for the time being. At least permission to Musharraf to go abroad should not come from the political government, and if such a decision comes from the court then things should proceed in the light of that decision.

The observers opine that during all the civilian governments since the creation of Pakistan, the balance regarding decision-making between the civil and military leadership has generally tilted toward the military, but now an improvement is being noted and the situation has changed altogether.

Perhaps it is for the first time in recent history that the political leadership has rejected an important advice from the military leadership, and this very decision indicates that perhaps now the civilian leadership has embarked on taking all the major decisions. The civilian leadership will for sure consult the military in this regard, but it is not clear if it will accept the advice given by the military.

Before the formation of the Pakistan Muslim League-N government, the party leaders had always emphasized that the country should have a strong democratic government which should have the authority to take all the decisions whether those decisions related to the foreign policy or the security affairs or any other matter.

In the last five years, though there was a civilian democratic government, the observers say, yet the central decision-making was with the military. Even decisions of domestic nature were taken after consultation with the military, whether the decision related to the appointment of a head of a national institution, the foreign minister and other purely civilian matters, the military leadership was always consulted, and it was generally observed that the military leadership even enjoyed the veto power in most of the matters.

It was believed in those days that the situation will change with the change of government because Nawaz Sharif and all his political contemporaries always spoke against the practice, and Nawaz Sharif always said that a democratic government should have total authority to take all the decisions.

Russian media rejects US claims on civilian deaths in drone attacks

MOSCOW: Number of civilian’s deaths from US drone attacks in Pakistan is far bigger than Washington admits, Russian media said on Sunday.

In a documentary on US drones, the Russian media said over 3000 people half of them civilians have been killed in 350 aerial strikes in Pakistan.

The Russian media called US term ‘Signature Strikes’ as worrying since in this procedure suspects are killed in US drone attacks without any substantial evidence.

They said the US drone attacks are tantamount to war crimes and sheer violation of international laws.