In Pakistan, elections under martial law !

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today at a press conference showed the US and the rest of the world that in Pakistani politics you can have your cake and eat it too.

Musharraf pledged elections in January, though the elections will be likely held while the state of emergency is still on, according to this report in CNN.

What that means, despite Musharraf’s pledge of having international observers, is that Musharraf and the army will ensure that only the pliant will get elected to the new parliament.

Musharraf and the army already control the Supreme Court and the Election Commission. Elections and parliamentary legitimacy is all he needs to complete this sordid charade.

The US and some European countries have been urging Musharraf to move towards democracy, but Musharraf demonstrated at the press conference on Sunday that he sets the agenda in Pakistan.

As US officials have often admitted, they need Musharraf and the Pakistani army in the war against terror, particularly as key terrorists are believed to be holed out in the country’s North-Western Frontier province.

Musharraf is playing that card against the US and Europe. He is well aware that the US will not try to upset a cozy relationship that it needs with the Pakistani army.

Where does that leave Benazir Bhutto ? Her Western sophistication and British education appeals to the West, but unlike Musharraf she does not control the army. In her craze to come to power, Bhutto will in the event, make some vociferous protests for the galleries, and then perhaps settle for a deal with the generals.

That leaves the small constituency of lawyers as the only consistent opposition to Musharraf and army rule. They are a strong moral force, but cannot for long counter the repression by the police and the army.

As the army battles its own people, the war against terror moves to the back-burner. Musharraf is in no hurry to flush out the terrorists. They are his trump card against US pressure.

The break down of civil society and political institutions may however help the jihadis. As the country’s civil society finds itself more distressed and impotent, the moderates may lose ideological leadership to the jihadis.

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Musharraf: I don't want to be unemployed !

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is very worried he may be out of a job as developments unfold in Pakistan. He wants to keep his army job just in case he is not re-elected as President of the country.

The General, now in his 60s, has a wife and family to look after. The Pakistani people have to ensure their leader does not slip at his age into the ranks of the unemployed.

The very reasonable General has, in fact, offered to quit his army job if he gets elected as President.

If elected for a second term as president, Musharraf shall relinquish charge of the post of chief of army staff soon after elections and before taking the oath of president for the second term, lawyer Sharfuddin Pirzada told the Supreme Court today, according to a report by AFP.

Musharraf is facing a petition in the Supreme Court objecting to the President standing for presidential elections in uniform. The country's Election Commission has changed the rules to make it easier for Musharraf to seek a new five-year presidential term while retaining his post as army chief. It removed a rule barring government employees, including army officers, from running for political office.

The offer by Musharraf’s lawyer to the Supreme Court will ensure that the general continues to wield power even if he loses the election, pleasing some of his supporters including the US which believes that Musharraf’s continuation is critical to its war against terror.

In a country where the army has considerable influence and has toppled elected governments, Musharraf will likely wield real power, with a say in running the country.

Musharraf’s current term in office ends November 15. Musharraf’s re-election bid will be voted for by members of the national parliament and provincial councils, where his party has a strong presence. Opposition parties have asked for early parliament elections, after which the President should seek re-election. The parliament elections are due next year.

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