Political maneuvering, manipulation and deals intensify as general and presidential elections draw near and Musharraf's time and options run out.
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=18126
By Naveed Ahmad in Islamabad for ISN Security Watch (17/09/07)
Pakistani military President General Pervez Musharraf's political foes on Sunday reacted sharply to his desperate desire to manipulate a fresh presidential term by unanimously vowing to quit the legislatures.
The move followed a fresh backdoor change in Election Commission regulations for the eligibility of presidential candidates in the form of what the opposition is calling an "illegal" amendment aimed at facilitating Musharraf's candidature and his dual role as army chief.
The newly amended election rules exempt General Musharraf from an Article 63 disqualification, which otherwise prevents a government servant from participating in elections unless retired for at least two years while also denying the candidature to someone who holds an office of profit in the government service.
Presidential elections are due to be held in the first week of November. The president's supporters have indicated he will quit as army chief if elected to another five-year term.
"We will resign from the assemblies and quit the provincial governments as soon as the nomination papers of General Musharraf are accepted, allowing him to contest the presidential election," Raja Zafarul Haq of the All Parties Democratic Alliance and chairman of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League, said in a Sunday statement following an urgent meeting of the 32-party conglomerate.
The fresh amendment changing the rules for presidential candidates puts the Election Commission directly in conflict with the Supreme Court where a nine-member panel of judges resumes hearing on Monday regarding Musharraf's claim to the presidency and army chief offices for another term.
Devoid of any neutrality, the Election Commission of Pakistan has been acting in a partisan manner since Musharraf overthrew Sharif’s elected government in October 1999.
Over half a dozen petitions by political parties as well as individual citizens are before the Supreme Court, seeking a permanent end to military rule.
"The Supreme Court is our biggest hope and Musharraf's worst nightmare," says lawyer Shaukat Siddiqui, who too took to streets for the restoration of popular Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was suspended in May after refusing to bow to the general's dictates but later restored to his position by the Supreme Court.
Despite hectic efforts after Chaudhry's reinstatement on 20 July, the Pakistani military ruler has failed to mend fences.
Zafarul Haq said the opposition would use every constitutional and political option to resist and block the re-election of Musharraf.
Growing power-sharing woes
Though all mainstream political parties attended the opposition meeting in Islamabad, Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) stayed away.
Thanks to the diplomatic maneuverings of British politician Jack Straw and US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, General Musharraf's aides have covered much ground in power-sharing talks with the liberal-minded Bhutto. However, she does not seem happy with the outcome so far.
"Our talks are going nowhere. We cannot accept Musharraf in the presidency with his uniform on and he has been refusing to doff it," Bhutto told party workers in a telephonic address from Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
In the next breath, the two-time prime minister finally announced she would end her self exile and return to Pakistan on 18 October.
Her party spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, told ISN Security Watch that the doors of talks with Musharraf would remain open until Bhutto returned home.
Babar accuses Musharraf's political advisers of scuttling the talks. "Certain political opportunists want power at the cost of the democratic transition of the country."
The PPP, for its part, denies compromising over democracy for the removal of corruption cases against Bhutto and her spouse, Asif Zardari.
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