Issue No 6, Aug 26-Sep 1, 2002 | ISSN:1684-2075 | satribune.com

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WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf faced a major personal set back as he formally announced sweeping powers for himself and declared he will remain President and Army Chief for next five years. His closest friend and adviser defected to his main rival, two-time former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The most trusted personal adviser to Musharraf, though not in any official capacity, General Saeed ul Hasan Zaidi formally joined the PPP of Benazir Bhutto last week after failing to persuade General Musharraf to patch up with Benazir as he believed it would be impossible, and unfair, to stop her from coming to power, unless the October elections were brutally rigged. Zaidi was instantly given a PPP ticket to contest for the National Assembly from Jhelum, his hometown. The joining ceremony, held with the PPP Punjab President Qasim Zia, wet practically unnoticed as not many know of Zaidi's close links to Musharraf.

A PPP spokesman in Islamabad confirmed to SA Tribune that Zaidi had tried to mediate between Benazir Bhutto and Musharraf some months back. "Zaidi was such a close friend that Musharraf's chief reformer and architect of his entire political strategy, General Tanwir H. Naqvi of the National Reconstruction Bureau, who would not listen to anyone, feared and obeyed his orders and advice religiously," a family source revealed in Islamabad.

Zaidi's sudden jumping out of the Musharraf ship and joining hands with Benazir has been be a devastating personal blow for the military ruler and conversely a big boost for Benazir as he would bring a sea of information and data about the strategy, thinking and plans of the government to deal with the BB threat.

Some PPP circles think he could also become a window of any future talks with the military regime, probably after the elections, so that a peaceful and acceptable transitional arrangement could be negotiated for transfer of power.

Zaidi mediation between Benazir Bhutto and General Musharraf had almost succeeded. "All but one point were agreed and an understanding was on the cards but the talks broke off on that one point," a source with some information about the talks revealed. The breaking point, according to the source, probably was the fate and political future of Asif Ali Zardari, now in jail for the last six years. But the source was not absolutely sure of this fact.

Zaidi's shock was not the only one Musharraf faced. Insiders revealed he was also being gradually pushed towards a haunting isolation by his fellow generals who had now started objecting to his decisions and manoeuvres, specially those aimed at "managing" the forthcoming general elections in favour of the so-called King's Party. Several generals are reluctant to become party to any such pre-polls management while some have already objected to these moves.

The sudden, and accidental, announcement by Musharraf that he would remain Army Chief for the next five years has shocked many of the top Generals in Pakistan as they now feel their military careers are over since most of them will retire during these five years.

The announcement was accidental as Musharraf in his exuberance declared that he had been elected President for five years and then added he would stay as Army Chief as well for that time. Immediately he realized his mistake but the cat was out of the bag.

Since he now plans to complete 9 years as Army Chief, as he was appointed in 1998 and has already completed four years, many Lt Generals who could have become full generals lost their chance of promotion. That had a chain reaction and the pipeline of senior promotions has been choked. Most of the present Lt Generals would retire while Musharraf will continue to serve even as he touches the ripe age of 64, five years from now.

"This situation is untenable for many and Musharraf has reached the same stage in three years which General Zia ul Haq took 11 years to reach," analysts said.

Some of several top Pakistani bureaucrats, visiting the United States these days, shared with SA Tribune some confidential information showing as to how frustrated the military is about Musharraf's super-charged enthusiasm to get the results that he wants in the polls.

The most blatant management of the election is being done in Punjab where even the Governor, Lt. General Khalid Maqbool is being bypassed and Musharraf is using the Chief Secretary Randhawa to push the pro-government candidates. Randhawa is said to be a class fellow of Musharraf but has high political ambitions for himself and his family. He has already secured two assembly tickets of the King's Party PML-QA for his daughter and brother, making him a direct party to the election efforts of this party His adminisration can no longer claim to be neutral. "Punjab has completely gone out of the once popular governor Khalid Maqbool's control. A troika of corps commander Lahore, chief secretary of the province and home secretary are calling the shots for the PML(QA), " a source said.

In Sindh, despite transfer of many district civil servants, including police officers, the Chief Secretary, Sindh Kaley Bux Rind, is still under pressure from his Governor and some of the provincial ministers to order more transfers.

Leader of the King's Party, Sindh Democratic Alliance, Imtiaz Sheikh, and his ministers wanted several more changes in the interior Sindh to contain the Pakistan People's Party. "It became unbearable for Rind who rushed to the Corps Commander to avoid being so unreasonable."

The corps commander came to his rescue and spoke to all concerned to keep everybody in their limits. That order was directly in conflict with what Musharraf and his loyal officers are trying to achieve. Later the top military commander in Sindh spoke very high of the chief secretary in a commanders meeting. Sindh Governor, one of the King's horses for the slot of post-October premiership, and the leadership of Sindh Democratic Alliance, wanted the provincial administration to blindly follow his directions. Otherwise, he cautioned, the PPP would win the elections in Sindh hands down. The corps commander created a major dent in that plan.

Quoting another incident, these well-informed bureaucrats said that in a recent corps commanders meeting an objection was raised as to why the civilian bureaucrats were being allowed to canvas for the Chaudhries of Gujrat.

The meeting in particular discussed Kamran Rasul who had reportedly taken extra-ordinary leave from government to join the textile empire of Chaudhries. The corps commanders objected that Rasul, a senior CSP officer, was electioneering for Chaudhries.

The military elite asked President Musharraf to immediately stop this politicization of the country's civil bureaucracy. The boss was also asked to reverse the policy of allowing government servants to join private sector jobs while on extra-ordinary leave. The policy has recently been reversed but the politicization still continues, according to a source.

The situation has also turned bad in the otherwise politically less significant province of Balochsitan where the four top men -- the governor, the corps commander, the chief secretary and the inspector general of police -- are at loggerheads these days. There is said to be a nexus between the governor and the chief secretary who are said to be pursuing their own election agenda to secure their political future.

The IGP is said to be a hard nut to crack and does not fit into the election scheme set by the governor and his chief secretary. To bring him in line, the governor and the chief secretary have prepared a number of cases against the IG, who became controversial in the Murtaza Bhutto murder case, when he was DIG Karachi.

The plan was to entangle the IGP into disciplinary proceedings and thus pave the way for a replacement who would suit the duo. However, things went wrong when the chief secretary in a recent promotion board meeting spoke against Suddle and informed that the governor wanted disciplinary proceedings against the police officer who otherwise was the most favourite for the promotion in basic pay scale 21. The board did not promote the officer despite several members' disbelief over the chief secretary's revelation.

But the chief secretary did not know that a bigger embarrassment was waiting for him as also for his governor. Before he reached Quetta, the top military boss of the province had already spoken to the governor. He protested as to why the IGP was victimised. The governor is now explaining his position whereas the chief secretary has no face to show.