Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has just days left to find a way out of his labyrinth before a constitutional crisis paralyses the country, a report in the Financial Times has said.
London, Aug.14 : Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has just days left to find a way out of his labyrinth before a constitutional crisis paralyses the country, a report in the Financial Times has said.
Faced with an ever-shrinking menu of options Musharraf spends much of his time shut away in his military camp in Rawalpindi, surrounded by self-interested advisers, increasingly intolerant of criticism and displaying signs, the paper quotes diplomatic sources, as saying.
Toying with idea of imposing an emergency, or planning to seek a new mandate from the existing state and national legislatures for a second consecutive presidential term, could find his ability to govern severely impaired, as he faces challenges to his legitimacy on two fronts -- from a judiciary headed by reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and from an emboldened civil society.
"This is going to be a battle. Back then, the Supreme Court was not free ... If the court now decides to disqualify him from contesting, it could lead to full martial law," the paper quotes Shafqat Mahmood, a political analyst, as saying.
Washington is keen for the isolated general to broaden his political base through an alliance with Benazir Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's party, and to reduce his dependency on religious parties.
Co-opting Bhutto into government increasingly looks like Musharraf's best chance of securing his political future, and the reported secret meeting between the two in Abu Dhabi late last month, was aimed at that.
If Musharraf refuses to put on civvies, a deal with Bhutto will be more complicated. An emergency that would derail a deal with Bhutto, head off a challenge to the PML (Q) from Nawaz Sharif and postpone parliamentary elections for a year therefore has its appeal. It also could appeal to Gen Musharraf's military instincts.
"He's really not a great strategist. He's a commando who, when he's in a fix, likes to blast his way out," the paper quotes a diplomat in Islamabad, as saying.
The coming weeks will present a new set of challenges, starting with the Supreme Court hearing the Sharifs` petition to be permitted the right to return to Pakistan.
If that petition is accepted, emergency will undoubtedly return, concludes the paper.
ANI