By IANS,
Islamabad : The military ought to have some role to ensure “stability, checks and balances in the democratic structure of Pakistan”, the country’s former army chief Parvez Musharraf has said.
The army should be given a constitutional role in Pakistan, which has been hit hard by rampant militancy and a crumbling economy, the former general-turned-president said at a debate in London Wednesday night.
Musharraf, who is in Britain and preparing to return to Pakistan, said that army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani could be forced to intervene against the unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari, Geo TV reported Thursday.
He made the comments when he was asked if a new putsch was likely, following a reported crisis meeting this week between Kayani, Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
“Well, you see the photographs of the meeting with the president and the prime minister, and I can assure you they were not discussing the weather,” he replied to the debate host Christopher Meyer, Britain’s former ambassador to the US.
“There was a serious discussion of some kind or other and certainly at this moment all kinds of pressures must be on this army chief,” said Musharraf, who handpicked Kayani as his successor in 2007.
The 67-year-old former president said similar “pressures” in his first year as army chief led him to launch the coup against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
“In that one year Pakistan was going down and a number of people, including politicians, women, men, came to me telling me: ‘Why are you not acting? Are you going to act for Pakistan’s good?'”
Musharraf said the solution was to give the army a constitutional role in governing the nation of 167 million people, which has spent more than half its existence since independence from Britain in 1947 under military rule.
“The situation in Pakistan can only be solved when the military has some role,” he said. “If you want stability, checks and balances in the democratic structure of Pakistan, the military ought to have some sort of role.”
Musharraf reiterated that he would launch his own party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, in London Friday to contest the next elections in 2013 as a civilian.
Musharraf also accused Zardari’s government of failing adequately to deal with Pakistan’s moribund economy, the threat from Taliban militants and the after-effects of devastating floods.
He condemned a recent surge in US drone strikes in Pakistani border areas, which were reportedly aimed at eliminating the leaders of an Al Qaeda plot to launch Mumbai-style militant attacks in Britain, France and Germany.
“Within Pakistan there is sensitivity of the people. We have got forces to deal with any situation. If action needs to be taken, the West should realise that they should equip the Pakistan Army or Air Force,” he said.
Musharraf seized power in 1999 and resigned in 2008. He has lived in self-imposed exile, shuttling between Britain, the US and Dubai, for more than two years.