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Pakistan Army tried to topple Zardari in 2009: Human Rights Watch | Pakistan's powerful military tried to destabilise
the elected government, and force out President Asif Ali Zardari in 2009, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report In a damning critique of the Pakistani military
establishment, the HRW said the armed forces had opposed efforts to end its intervention in the political and judicial process. It had also resisted attempts to locate
some of the scores of people who were "disappeared" in the restive province of
Baluchistan during the years of General Pervez Musharraf's rule. "The Pakistani
military continues to subvert the political and judicial systems in Pakistan,"
The Independent quoted Ali Dayan Hasan of HRW, as saying. "After eight years of
disastrous military rule and in spite of the election of a civilian government,
the army appears determined to continue calling the shots in order to ensure that
it can continue to perpetrate abuses with impunity," he added. Following the election
of a civilian government in February 2008, the authorities vowed to end the violence,
withdraw troops and release political prisoners. Yet that has not happened. Hasan
says the military continues to hold sway over most parts of Pakistan, muzzles
local media and is undermining reconciliation. "The military needs to recognise
that it no longer runs the show," he added. The report also highlighted how the
military worked against Zardari last autumn over a US aid bill, "in an apparent
attempt to... force the resignation" of President Zardari. The Kerry-Lugar bill
offered 7.5 billion dollars, but was opposed by the Pakistani military because
of conditions the US attached, in particular that it was satisfied that the armed
forces were fighting terrorism and not "subverting the political or judicial processes
of Pakistan". Lahore-based analyst Rasul Bakhsh Rais claimed the Pakistan military
has become more subtle in the way it intervened. For instance, it had been building
a relationship with the Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani as a way of trying to isolate
the President. "I think now they are working to counter Mr Zardari, to create
checks and balances," he said. The publication of the report came as the US Defence
Secretary Robert Gates made his first visit to Pakistan since 2007, amid pressure
from Washington for Pakistan to attack militants based in North Waziristan. |
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