Get a grip or go, Musharraf told
The Australian | November 17, 2007
Critical US support for General Pervez Musharraf appeared to be ebbing last night, even as the Pakistani President freed Benazir Bhutto and other opposition figures from detention and swore in an interim prime minister.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was due to arrive in Islamabad last night with a message for General Musharraf to get a grip on the turmoil besetting the nuclear-armed nation, or make way for another leader.
Washington has been signalling its growing impatience with General Musharraf over emergency rule, which he said was necessary to tackle Islamic militancy and a meddling judiciary.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates yesterday even questioned General Musharraf's future effectiveness as a US ally in the fightagainst al-Qa'ida and the Taliban.
General Musharraf's "ability to continue to be a partner in the war on terror very much depends on how events unfold over the next few weeks in Pakistan", he told reporters.
A former State Department official also told the BBC: "Washington may approach other members of Musharraf's team to feel them out and see whether they would be willing to engineer a transition."
Mr Negroponte plans to see other senior generals, including the moderate Vice-Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, a former boss of the ISI spy agency who attended military college in the US and who is the most likely candidate to replace General Musharraf.
The interim prime minister appointed last night is former banker Mohammedmian Soomro, 57, also US-educated and with good contacts at high levels in Washington.
Mr Soomro is a member of the Pakistan Muslim League that supports General Musharraf, but he is also a moderate with close contacts in Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.
He will head a small cabinet that will govern Pakistan before a general election to take place before January 9.
Mr Soomro's appointment, Ms Bhutto's release after only three days of a seven-day house arrest order and the release of Pakistan's Human Rights Commission chairwoman Asima Jahangir were seen as an unsubtle attempt to gain favour with Mr Negroponte and ease tension on Pakistan's streets. Three people were killed, including two boys, late on Thursday in protests against Ms Bhutto's detention in Karachi.
Pakistan's The News newspaper reported that General Musharraf had also ordered the release of thousands of political workers arrested during recent anti-government demonstrations.
But not all of those arrested are destined to be freed.
Yesterday, there were reports that cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan sent a text message to his lawyer from within Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail saying he feared for his life.
Mr Khan is being held under the country's Anti-Terrorism Act and faces charges that could bring him between seven years and life in prison.
Mr Negroponte is expected to demand the immediate lifting of the state of emergency, restoration of the constitution, the release of all political detainees and the reinstatement of judges fired from the Supreme Court. But most analysts say General Musharraf will be unable to accept all the demands, and the Bush administration may look beyond him to another leader.
While Washington had hoped for a power-sharing arrangement between Ms Bhutto and General Musharraf, Ms Bhutto has ruled out serving under General Musharraf and has instead sealed an alliance with former prime minister and rival Nawaz Sharif.
