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CIAO Focus, April 2007:
Musharraf and the Upcoming Elections in Pakistan

Pakistan

 

The suspension on March 9 of Pakistan’s chief justice has sparked a wave of protest with lawyers, doctors, journalists as well as retired army officers calling for General Pervez Musharraf to step down as president.

Under the country’s constitution, Musharraf is required to relinquish his position as head of the army (for which he wears a military uniform) if he wants to stay on as president during elections to be held later this year. However, few believe he will give up control of the institution that brought him to power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

In 2004, Musharraf pledged to resign his military post, but reneged on that promise claiming that the unstable conditions of the country at the time necessitated him to stay on as head of the armed forces. Many say that ousting the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, was a move aimed at disposing of an opponent who challenged the president’s intentions to retain control of both the army and the government.

Compounding matters is Musharraf’s uneasy alliance with the United States. Initially chided as a dictator who brought sanctions on his country by detonating a nuclear device, Musharraf was suddenly embraced by Washington as an ally in the war on terror following September 11. The president has attempted to comply with U.S. demands to root out religious extremism in Pakistan without alienating his Islamist constituency, which has grown increasingly anti-American since the outbreak of the war in Iraq.

This month CIAO examines Musharraf and the Upcoming Elections in Pakistan

From the CIAO Database:

Pakistan’s Tribal Areas: Appeasing the Militants

Fortifying Pakistan: The Role of U.S. Internal Security Assistance

Pakistan: The Myth of an Islamist Peril

Starting on the road to recovery: Saving lives and rebuilding livelihoods after the Pakistan earthquake

Islam, Militarism, and the 2007 - 2008 Elections in Pakistan

Pakistan: The Worsening Conflict in Balochistan

Outside Sources:

Profile: President Pervez Musharraf (BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4797762.stm

A Country Study: Pakistan (Library of Congress)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/pktoc.html

Dawn (English Language Newspaper)
http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/05/index.htm

Pakistan Virtual Library
http://www.southasianist.info/pakistan/index.html

The Pakistan Government
http://www.pak.gov.pk/

 

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