Protesters want Pakistan PM to go

From CNN Producer Syed Mohsin Naqvi
Thursday, March 24, 2005 Posted: 0208 GMT (1008 HKT)

LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) -- U.S. flags have been set alight and thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Lahore to call for the resignation of Pakistani President, General Pervez Musharraf.

In the second such display in four days, thousands of members of an alliance of Islamic parties on Wednesday have protested in the capital, accusing Musharraf of being beholden to the United States.

A similar demonstration occurred in Karachi on Sunday, when tens of thousands of Pakistanis crammed the streets to express dissatisfaction with the general, who seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1999.

The events were organized by an alliance of Islamic parties called Muthaida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). Its president, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, called for a revolution, and exhorted the crowd not to cease their struggle until Musharraf had resigned. <snip>

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/03/23/pakistan.protest/

Too bad sooo few of us do.

Are the Bushits going to encourage Mucharraf to resign and let the power of the people blossom???

Or are these "people in the street" going to be called 'Terrrrarists?"

*

Could you imagine a Talibanesque regime in Pakistan? Armed with nukes flying F16s? I think Pakistan is probably the ONLY country on earth where it is in our OBVIOUS best interest to maintain the dictatorship.

I honestly hope to god we have a plan to take out the nukes should even a coup happen let alone a full scale revolution.

More than 10,000 protesters rallied in this southwestern city in Pakistan on Friday, demanding President Gen. Pervez Musharraf step down.


The supporters of a coalition of radical Islamic groups chanted "God is great" and "Pakistan will not be allowed to become a U.S. colony."



The six-party United Action Forum has accused Musharraf of reneging on a promise to become a civilian head of state and leave his army job by the end of 2004.



"No to Musharraf's uniform" and "Musharraf has to step down," two protester signs said. Police put the crowd at more than 10,000.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=ap/pakistan_opposition

So on the Media Whore scale, 10,000 x 20 = at least 200,000 protesters






COUP IN PAKISTAN
On Tuesday, the military closed the airports and placed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif under house arrest.

The coup came just hours after Sharif fired Musharraf, who was visiting Sri Lanka. The general immediately flew back to Pakistan and was met at the airport by a large contingent of soldiers.

The conflict between the two men developed this summer after the prime minister ordered militants to withdraw from Indian territory in the Kashmir region, ending two months of bitter fighting with India.

Musharraf reportedly orchestrated the incursion into Kashmir, and the withdrawal of the militants was considered humiliating to Pakistan's military.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec99/pakistan_report_10-12.html



Musharraf's coup


A beleaguered Pakistan military regime faces mounting criticism

In perpetrating a second coup against democracy, General Pervez Musharraf may have strengthened his own position but he has done Pakistan no favours. Gen Musharraf's decision to elevate himself from "chief executive", the title he assumed after the 1999 military takeover, to president, had been predicted. But that does not make it any more acceptable. And the timing was inept, coming as his foreign minister, Abdul Sattar, was in Washington trying to persuade a sceptical US administration to show more understanding of his country's problems.

Mr Sattar, who seems to have been badly caught out by the presidential putsch, conducted a similar exercise in London the previous week. Any progress he may have made has now been wrecked by the general's action, which brought sharp rebukes from the US State Department and the Foreign Office. Any chance that Washington would relax its sanctions has been blown, while the Commonwealth must decide whether to expel Pakistan when it meets later this year.

Just as when he overthrew Pakistan's elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, Gen Musharraf justifies his latest constitutional violation on grounds of personal duty and the national interest. Some progress has been made since 1999 in tackling corruption and restoring order to the country's indebted economy. Growth this year is estimated at 4% and exports and foreign currency reserves are up. But these advances have come at a high cost, with normal political life suspended, violence in Kashmir increasing again, and Pakistan isolated, especially over its links with Afghanistan's Taliban. Although Gen Musharraf promises to allow parliamentary elections by October next year, he is likely to retain his dominant, still illegitimate position, backed by an unelected security council. Public anger at Mr Sharif's clique has been replaced by a sense of powerlessness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,511917,00.html

By Vilani Peiris
21 November 2000

Use this version to print

Last month marked one year since General Pervez Musharraf ousted the elected Pakistani government, arrested prime minister Nawaz Sharif and installed his own military regime. Accusing the previous government of corruption and ruining the economy, Musharraf promised to bring economic progress and political stability, eradicate poverty, build investor confidence and restore democracy as quickly as possible.

Twelve months later none of these promises have been fulfilled. The economy is still on a knife-edge and there is growing popular discontent with falling living standards and the lack of basic democratic rights. The regime is under fire not only from the political opposition but also from its supporters in the ruling elites including among the military top brass.

At the end of October, a meeting of key military commanders grilled Musharraf over the record of his administration. According to an Agence France-Presse report: “Political and diplomatic sources said that the commanders discussed plans to appoint a civilian prime minister to deflect public anger from the military, should the situation deteriorate further.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/nov2000/pak-n21.shtml