Musharraf refuses to endorse third term amendment

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: President Pervez Musharraf had refused to say whether he would endorse a constitutional amendment to allow former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to serve a third term.

In an interview to Lally Weymouth appearing in the Washington Post on Sunday (today), the president said it did not make any difference from the national point of view between his being in or out of uniform. “The army is being managed by a chief of staff dedicated to the job, and I will be president of Pakistan, and if the two are totally in harmony, the situation is better,” he explained. He said he would appoint the army chief and the security services would report to the president and the prime minister. The ISI, he added, reports to the political leaders. Asked how he would share power with the prime minister, he replied that the prime minister runs the government, while he would chair the National Security Council, a consultative body, that meets to review situations but there really is no sharing of responsibility. He denied that there are any restrictions on the press. He compared the code of conduct brought in by the government as being as good as the one in America. When told that there is no code of conduct in the US, he replied that while criticism was okay, the media were “distorting realities and creating despondencies in the people of Pakistan by showing pictures of dead bodies and interviewing terrorists — not showing the law enforcement authorities in a good light but showing the terrorists in a better light. Thus they encouraged terrorism and discouraged the law enforcers. They were undermining the good work of the government, were entirely one-sided, and some responsibility had to be brought in.” He said the code of conduct is there to stay.

The deposed judges, he made it clear, will “never be restored”. He said there was no need to restore the courts as they were “already there”. He added, “There was something seriously wrong with the chief justice of Pakistan.” On March 9, there were corruption charges against him, charges of interfering in the judgments of judges on other courts and interfering in the executive by taking actions on issues from traffic control to privatisation. He accused the Americans and the foreign media of their “obsession with democracy, civil liberties, human rights”. They thought that their definition of all these things is correct. He agreed that he was angrier than he was before. Then added, “Why don’t you understand? Am I a madman? Have I suddenly changed? Am I a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?” He asserted that he did not make mistakes but took “considered views”. “I discuss, I debate issues and then take decisions”.

Reminded that terrorism is not arising because of the media, he replied, that when the government took action in Lal Masjid, the media “showed those who took action as villains and brought those madwomen who were there on television and made heroes of them”. About Osama bin Laden, the president said he could be in Bajaur on the Afghan side. He praised US President Bush for being “extremely supportive”. He added that Bush understands why the emergency was imposed and why action had to be taken.

Asked how he feels about working with Benazir Bhutto, Musharraf answered, “When you talk of working with her, you imply she is going to be the prime minister. Why do you imply that? I keep telling everyone we haven’t had the elections”. He added that if she got enough votes, he would “of course” work with her. He said he had made no promise to the US that he would lift the ban on the prime minister serving more than two terms. He said he would hold fair and transparent elections. He said he would not permit the US to act unilaterally in Pakistan. He ruled out the direct interrogation of Dr AQ Khan by the US.

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Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.