Saeed Minhas writes from Islamabad:
President Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf is heading for his home town Karachi to informally launch his formal re-election campaign in the coming week, learned The Frontier Post on good authority.
Following a hectic schedule of meetings with the political and top commanders of the country in the capital, President Gen. Musharraf is learned to have decided to take it upon himself to secure another term for himself.
Federal cabinet and all the provincial chief ministers have already agreed to give Gen. Musharraf another term through same assemblies. Elections are likely to be held between September 15 and October 15, as enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan.
Sources privy to information confided with The Frontier Post that since deal with Peoples Party is almost final and Jamali and Maulana Fazalur Rehman has done their assigned duties, re-election would not be an issue for the President.
When asked about the possibility of a shown down with the judiciary on the issue of uniform, sources said that uniform has also been decided in principle. Circumstances permitting, sources said President will doff the uniform soon after the appointment of a new services chief by first or second week of October. Vice Chief of Army Staff Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Ehsan ul Haq are due to retire by October 7, 2007.
As for the Constitutional requirements are concerned, sources said that for the office of the president qualifications apply while disqualifications does not apply to a presidential candidate. Federal law minister Wasi Zafar who is under pressure for initiating the movement of a malafide reference against chief Justice in March 2007 confirmed this while talking to The Frontier Post. He said that opposition leaders and constitutional lawyers were mistaken that disqualification rules apply to the presidential candidate. He also nullified the impression that any new amendment to the constitution would be introduced in the current session of the National Assembly to facilitate President’s re-election. He said that 17th amendment covers it all for the president. However, he avoided answering the question about the uniform by saying that President would take a decision according to the situation and the constitution. He said that the federal cabinet has already vowed to get President re-elected from the same assemblies.
Since presidential camp office has become an off-limit area for most of the federal ministers, especially after the judgment in the chief justice’s case, some federal ministers were not willing to talk on the issue. President has already nominated his own trusted Rashid Qureshi as his spokesman while DG ISPR is already taking care of the issues related to forces activities throughout the country.
Rashid Qureshi was of the view that due to security reasons, movements of the president would not be disclosed in advance, however, he said that President might visit Karachi soon. On other issues, he said that he was not in a position at this time to comment on the issues such as uniform and PPP’s stance on this.
Sources further confirmed that due consideration has also been given to the possible replacement of Gen. Musharraf as services chief in the past one week or so. Seniority list and suitability as per the current situation was all discussed and debated by the President and his trusted men. After the 1999 bloodless coup, which saw the ouster of Nawaz Sharif at the hands of Gen. Musharraf, the constitution has been amended to allow the President to name the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS), a prerogative used to be in the hands of prime minister and Nawaz Sharif was the last one to use that right. Therefore, the naming of his own replacement will not be any task for the president, said the sources. However, due to internal and external pressures, what need to be done has to be done by the President, they added.
Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party, Benazir Bhutto who is risking her party’s anti-establishment portfolio is learned to have asked the President Gen Musharraf during her meeting in Abu Dhabi and also to Americans to ensure a balance of power between the president and the prime minister’s office. Sources privy to the information disclosed that Benazir is utilizing every ounce of her power to extract maximum out of the establishment before making her deal with Musharraf public. Sources said that she is equally skeptic of any final outcome of her deal with the government, but by keeping all her party leaders out of this, she is playing it very safe and to the best of her advantage. Since she has been facilitated with all other agreed upon relaxations, sources said that she is all but set to make a return to the country’s ruling corridors.
However, sources said that president’s Q Leaguers are finding it hard to digest this and therefore have asked the president to keep this option open for them and since general elections have to be transparent and fair, let the Q Leaguers prove their worth and if they come victorious they should be given the right to form the next government. Therefore, sources said that PML (Q) leadership has also decided to come out strong for re-election of the president and then re-seek his attentions once again. PML (Q) leadership has been getting complaints from the Presidency that they have always failed to deliver in the time of need and have failed to gel together as a unit. President was heard on record when he addressed a parliamentary party meeting of the PML (Q) before the decision of the Supreme Court on CJ’s issue.
Following these developments, Chaudhary Shujaat, president of PML (Q) has increased his contacts with the parliamentary party members and provincial chiefs to ensure that his party remains in the thick of things.
Meanwhile, religious alliance of MMA have also been given the option to either stay on board or get ready for the action, said the sources. They said that after several negotiations, they too have agreed to cooperate and behave like decent parliamentarians.
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