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Pervez faces flak from ex-generals
9/4/2006
- By Seema Mustafa
Islamabad, Sept. 3: Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, left virtually alone by the political establishment to handle the Balochistan crisis, has now come under strong attack from former generals for what they described as an "ill-conceived idea and badly handled operation" that killed Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Gen. Musharraf, who held a meeting of Army corps commanders and reportedly got their support, has been finding it increasingly difficult to silence the media and the joint Opposition that has stepped up the protest through successful bandhs in Balochistan and Sindh. The attack by former generals, which includes ex-chiefs of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is now the latest salvo against the Pakistan President, indicating large-scale disaffection that the Army might find difficult to control.
Lt. Gen. Assad Durrani, a former ISI chief who is one of the four generals to come out openly against Gen. Musharraf on this issue, told this newspaper that the use of military force had been premature. He said that the President had neither tried or exhausted the political options, pointing out that PML-Q leaders Chaudhray Shaukat Hussain and Mushahid Hussain had met Nawab Bugti and returned with an agreement. He said that the Baloch could not be dealt with like the Punjab. "We can be browbeaten but not the Baloch, he has to be treated with respect. You can kill a Baloch but you cannot insult him," he pointed out, adding that the President had done little to effectively handle Nawab Bugti who has now become "the symbol of Baloch resistance."
Lt. Gen. Durrani said that the PML-Q leaders had gone to meet Nawab Bugti on behalf of the government and it was unfortunate that "whenever there is an agreement involving the state, it is the state that first violates it." He said that a "very big leader" had been killed in the military operations this time and this would have serious repercussions. He was clear that the military operation was unnecessary, and that the Army should not have been involved in what was essentially a political dispute.
Another former ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul, former chief of staff Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg and Lt. Gen. Talat Masood have all come out publicly against the Army action, insisting that there was no need to involve the military in this at all. Gen. Beg has pointed out to the media here that there had been no need for the Army to be deployed to capture an 80-year-old man hiding in a cave. He said that the second mistake was that the task to capture him was given to the Army instead of the security forces, even though they knew that he would die fighting. He was also critical of the Army's failure to hand over the body of Nawab Bugti to his relatives, a mistake that has evoked strong criticism from all sections in Pakistan.
Lt. Gen. Mehmood, who was always close to the establishment, said that the killing of Nawab Bugti would lead to greater insurgency that would in turn require increased military forces in Balochistan that would "bleed both the Army and resources dry." Former ISI chief Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul demanded suo moto recognition by the Supreme Court of the incident and an investigation "whether the military operation and excessive use of force was the only way of capturing Bugti. Responsibility should be fixed and the nation, which has to pay the price for this action, must know the facts."
The opposition to Gen. Musharraf is consolidating within the political and strategic establishment. Former generals, ministers and others came together in what is popularly referred to here as the "G-18" initiative with a list of demands for a free and fair general election, with the emphasis on separating the office of President of Pakistan from that of Chief of Army Staff. The list included the former governor of Balochistan, Lt. Gen. Abdul Qadir, Lt. Gen. Assad Durrani, former federal minister Javed Jabbar, former interior minister Lt. Gen. Moinuddin Haider, a senator from the ruling PML-Q S.M. Zafar, former foreign minister Sartaj Aziz and several others, who sought caretaker governments both at the national level as well as in the provinces, and the empowerment of the central election commission. Mr Jabbar told this newspaper that the demand for Gen. Musharraf to lay down his uniform is expected to gather ground.
Gen. Musharraf has not spoken officially on this issue, although some PML-Q leaders - with the Punjab chief minister in the forefront - have insisted that there is no need for him to lay down his uniform. It is unlikely that he will agree, particularly if he is able to consolidate his position despite the Balochistan setback. This, however, appears to be difficult at the moment as the general is single-handedly defending the military operations in Balochistan. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, foreign minister Khurshed Mehmood Kasuri and even most PML-Q leaders have been fairly quiet on this front, with the space being occupied by the Opposition and the Baloch leaders. The media has refused to drop the subject, with strong editorials and articles still appearing against the military operation.
The burial of Nawab Bugti has created a further controversy, with clerics and others criticising the government for not handing over his body to the family. The rumours of foul play continue to surround the incident, with the government propaganda against Nawab Bugti confined really to the official media and not being given sufficient credence by the more independent newspapers and television channels.