Musharraf's uniform again evokes controversy in Pakistan

Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf is likely to retain the post of army chief although he promised to take off his uniform by the end of this year, which again has evoked much controversy in the country's politics.

On Dec. 24 last year, Musharraf, who took power after a bloodless coup in 1999, said that he had made up his mind to take off his uniform by the end of this year. Up till then, he had retained for four years the post of the chief of army staff, one of the most powerful levers in Pakistan's political games.

"After giving it serious thought, I have decided to give up my uniform before Dec. 31, 2004, for creating political harmony in the country. I will select the date myself within this period," Musharraf said in a nationwide radio and television address following his deal with Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a six-member conservative Islamic group.

In return, The MMA agreed to vote for the passage of a constitutional amendment in the National Assembly that authorizes the president to dismiss both parliament and government and allows him to remain president through 2007.

The MMA had insisted that holding both civilian and military offices simultaneously was not democratic and therefore it launched a movement to make the president take off his uniform.

However, Musharraf seems to have changed his mind. He and his staunch supporters seem to be busy paving the way for justifying his stay in uniform.

On Sept. 10, Musharraf himself told a TV channel that the majority of the Pakistani people wanted him to remain as army chief.

In an interview with the Washington Post published Friday, he indicated that he might renege on his pledge to step down as army chief of staff, saying "the vast majority of the Pakistani people want me in uniform" and that he feared he would be weakened without it.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday told reporters that Musharraf's "expected" decision to retain his army post beyond Dec.31 would be in the interest of the country's stability and solidarity.

"The interests of the country are more important than anything else. We must support what is best and is in the interests of Pakistan and we must all welcome it," said Aziz, adding that "There is no provision in the constitution that bars the president from retaining the office of the chief of army staff."

Shaikh Rashid Ahmad, information minister and chief spokesman for the government, was more categorical while briefing the media on a cabinet meeting this week.

He said the government had decided that the president should stay as army chief beyond Dec. 31. "Hopefully, the president wouldagree with the cabinet's proposition," Rashid added.

Musharraf and his supporters have so far produced different arguments for him to remain in uniform, and their main argument isthat the circumstances under which Musharraf promised to shed the uniform have changed and that the uniform can guarantee the country's political stability and democracy.

But the opposition and media did not believe such a story. The MMA-controlled North West Frontier provincial assembly insisted ina resolution that Musharraf should keep only one office after Dec.31. The MMA and the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, the opposition comprising the Pakistani People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), are likely to join forces to oppose any move for Musharraf to keep both offices.

In an editorial Friday, Pakistan's most influential English-Language newspaper Dawn said "There should be no illusions that the offices of army chief and president must remain with one person because we are not yet a stable democracy: we are not one precisely because of uniformed rulers."

Although Musharraf has not made up his mind on uniform, some western media warned him of the possible backlash due to his possible insistence on occupying the army post.

A decision by Musharraf to stay on as army chief of staff couldprovoke an angry political backlash in Pakistan and "it also couldprove awkward for the Bush administration, which has embraced Musharraf as a key ally in the war on terrorism while calling for greater democracy in the Muslim world," the Washington Post said Friday.

Any decision, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said, to keep the two posts will give birth to political instability in the country. Therefore, one hopes the president is aware of the grave consequences for the country that could arise out of a wrongdecision.

Source: Xinhua