Does Musharraf face risk of a coup?

Lt Gen KianiEarly today morning there were strong rumors throughout he country that the junior squadron of Army leadership had turned onto Musharraf and had him under house arrest, the rumor fizzled out to be smoke and Musharraf went on record to state that this was ‘a joke of the highest degree’ An interesting article by BBC helps us understand the loyalty within the army and it might be difficult to expect something from within, my personal gut feeling is that such a resistance will only happen if Musharraf faces a strong public revolt, which he has managed to control till today, with a massive revolt someone might sum up the courage to turn against him, but it wont happen for another 20-30 days

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Karachi

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was forced to dismiss rumours circulating on Monday that he had been placed under house arrest, just two days after he declared emergency rule. As things stand, there is little reason to believe that Gen Musharraf, who is both president and head of the army, is in imminent danger of being removed from office by force. There are only two groups of people who would appear to have the capacity to move against Gen Musharraf and arrest him. One is his immediate subordinates in the army, including the heads of the intelligence services. The other is the corps commanders who constitute the second tier of the leadership of the military. Gen Musharraf’s position depends on the personal loyalty to him of those who serve him and also the institutional loyalty of military men to their chief. On both counts, the odds looked stacked well in favour of Gen Musharraf.

Hand-picked

The only positions from which it looks as if a coup could be organised are those of the deputy head of the army and the chiefs of two intelligence services, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI). The present holders of those posts were hand-picked by Gen Musharraf, apparently on the basis of his understanding of their loyalty and competence. Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiani was recently promoted and appointed as the deputy chief of the army and nominated by Gen Musharraf as his successor to the top military post. Gen Kiani was instrumental in overseeing the investigations into two attempts on Gen Musharraf’s life in 2003, bringing a number of low-ranking military personnel to a court martial. At a farewell dinner held for some retiring army officers last month, Gen Musharraf devoted a large part of his speech to Gen Kiani’s merits, and said that “both of us think alike”.

The Director-General of the ISI, Lt Gen Nadim Taj, has served as Gen Musharraf’s military secretary (MS), a position which is normally given to a close confidante. Gen Taj was also on the fateful plane that took Gen Musharraf from Sri Lanka to Karachi, and then to the corridors of power in Islamabad, on 12 October 1999. The government of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sacked Gen Musharraf and ordered his plane to be diverted, sparking the coup that ended 10 years of democratic rule in Pakistan.

Obscure position

The head of Military Intelligence, Major-Gen Nadim Ejaz, is also a confidante and a close relative of Gen Musharraf’s wife, Sehba Musharraf. Gen Musharraf brought him from an obscure position in the ISI to head the MI, and gave him important assignments in Balochistan province as well as the tribal areas in the north-west. There is no visible pressure on these officials to move against Gen Musharraf. On the contrary, they would be under pressure to support Gen Musharraf’s dispensation in order to stabilise their own newly acquired positions. In some quarters it has been suggested that Gen Kiani may have a motive to stage a coup, since he would be the man to step into Gen Musharraf’s shoes.

Unprecedented

So far in Pakistan’s history, the coups have been staged by army chiefs only against civilian leaders. So a counter-coup from within the army would be unprecedented. In the past, the army chiefs have moved against civilian governments on the basis of perceived threats to national integrity that may or may not have been real. But for a coup to be directed against a ruler who is also the army chief, the threat would have to be a real one. If millions of people were to pour out onto the streets against President Musharraf, and the law and order machinery were to break down, then powerful elements in the military might indeed believe there was a threat to national integrity. That only looks possible now should Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party join forces with lawyers and other opposition groups that are trying to mobilise support for anti-Musharraf protests.

But Ms Bhutto is currently engaged in delicate power-sharing negotiations with Gen Musharraf. And one of the noticeable things about the current protests in Pakistan after Saturday’s declaration of emergency rule is that the street protests have been relatively small scale. Perhaps for now Gen Musharraf will be more worried about the continued threat of assassination, either from the thousands of pro-Taleban militants waging war against the army, or disgruntled lower-ranking members of the military.

Comments

10 responses to “Does Musharraf face risk of a coup?”

  1. emullah Avatar

    Musharaff has done a final coup on his own credibility.

  2. Mutazalzaluzzaman Tarar Avatar
    Mutazalzaluzzaman Tarar

    The only way for the army to redeem itself is by arresting the fascist dictator and turn him over so that he can be charged with treason.

    Otherwise, this will inevitably turn into a head-on collision between the army of uniformed politicians and usurpers, and the rest of Pakistan.

  3. Zia Avatar
    Zia

    1958 – Ayub Khan was close confidante of Iskander Mirza.
    1969 – Yahya Khan was handpicked by Ayub Khan in ’66. (Revolt within the army )
    1977 – Zia ul Haq was handpicked by Bhutto ( 1988 Zia sensed a revolt so he took all senior generals with him to Bhalwalpur )
    1999 – Musharraf was handpicked by Sharif
    2007 ———–

    Names change, dialogues change, locations change but central theme remains the same ” history repeats itself”.

    Greek, Persians, Romans, Muslims, Mongols, British..such might empires went down. Through out the history people tried to be GOD and left their ‘mummys’ as a warning to the ones who follow but we never learn.

  4. BitterTruth Avatar
    BitterTruth

    Totally unlikely. Army is addicted to power, all generals are enjoying and sucking the blood of the nation.

  5. PakSahafi Avatar
    PakSahafi

    BREAKING NEWS:
    Nadeem Taj, DG ISI, planted the coup news against Musharraf.

    Nadeem Taj is a Muhajir. Altaf Hussain and MQM would rather have a Muhajir take over from Musharraf. Plans are underway to guarantee that Nadeem Taj overthrows Musharraf. If Mush has to go, let a Muhajir overthrow him and run the country, this is MQMs game.

    It sounds deviant but makes sense.

    Source: MQM insiders

  6. aalyaq Avatar
    aalyaq

    Don’t be silly the Musharaaf is a Mohajir himself.

  7. Ahmad Ali Avatar
    Ahmad Ali

    Let us together kill the Pak Army officers. That is the only way that Pakistan can become true democracy.

  8. jammin Avatar

    Enough of the talking, just do it.

    http://www.letshaveacoup.com

    Power to the people.

  9. Naeem Butt Avatar
    Naeem Butt

    Nadeem Taj is not a Muhajir.He is of Kahmiri-Punjabi origin.

  10. abid Avatar

    ahmad ali pakistanis ki if not then un kay bombs ki hifazad tumhara abba karay gaa..