Retired military officers call on Pakistani leader to quit

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: McClatchy

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — About 100 retired senior military officers issued a blunt open letter Tuesday exhorting President Pervez Musharraf to resign, as an attack on an army fort in a troubled tribal zone near Afghanistan left 37 Islamic militants dead.

The demand from the retired officers is the latest sign that Musharraf, who's traveling in Europe to shore up his battered image, faces increasingly strong challenges to his rule. Musharraf shed his army uniform last month but relies on the military as a pillar of support.

The retired officers— including some two dozen army generals, three air force air marshals and eight naval admirals— signed the letter after a meeting at a hotel adjacent to the general headquarters of the Pakistan armed forces in nearby Rawalpindi. The letter said the officers voiced "great concern and anguish" during discussions about the "prevailing conditions" in the country.

Some of the officers had signed statements against Musharraf before, but never in such numbers.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080122/wl_mcclatchy/2824024;_ylt=Ag1xfNZJ8CK5MfM4.GZ6oOys0NUE

[Igel]

1. Eh.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/01/23/nat2.htm

... Spearheaded by Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Ali Chishti, once a key member of Gen Zia-ul-Haq’s martial law regime, the ex-servicemen society has lately been quite active against Gen Musharraf. Tuesday’s gathering was its biggest show so far. It was attended by those who have been known critics of Gen Musharraf mainly because of his support for the US-led war against terror or for his liberal reforms, and also by moderate ex-servicemen who have been opposed to both the former military rulers as well as Gen Musharraf. ...

The participants included people like former army chief Gen (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg, former ISI chief Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Gul and Lt-Gen Chishti. There also were known moderates like two former air marshals, Asghar Khan and Nur Khan, and Air Chief Marshal (retd) Pervez Mehdi. According to a list issued by the organisers, the participants included Admiral (retd) Karamat Rehman Niazi, Admiral (retd) Iftikhar Ahmad Sirohey, Admiral (retd) Mohammad Sharif, Admiral (retd) Saeed M. Khan, Admiral (retd) Hasan Asif, Admiral (retd) Obaid Sadiq and Lt-Gen (retd) Ali Kuli Khan. ...

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In other words, a mixed bag. (a) A lot of people were there because, well, in their past is support for the kinds of people currently killing soldiers and being killed by soldiers. Gotta hurt, seeing "your" guys killed by "your" guys. (b) But some are just anti-military (yes, there are military officers opposed to military control of the government). (c) Some are just anti-Musharraf, since he had a few purges (see (a), at least in part). (d) Some are forever opposed to military action--they may not have supported the mullahs, but they don't want to see better Muslims killed by lesser Muslims. And, (e) some think the job could be done better ... even though it wasn't done better when they had influence.