Former Pakistani Prime Minister: Musharraf To "Step Down" As Army Head

AP:

LONDON - Pakistan's exiled former prime minister said Wednesday that President Gen. Pervez Musharraf had agreed to step down as military chief in a move she expected before the next presidential election.
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Such an agreement would be a key step forward in political negotiations for a power-sharing deal with the opposition.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[KosmicKat]

05:57 PM on 08/29/2007

His car looks more and more like a Lear Jet with extra fuel tanks. Wonder why?

[outnow]

05:17 PM on 08/29/2007

Pak man is gone but not forgotten. That'll teach you not to mess with lawyers!

[tcagle]

05:10 PM on 08/29/2007

Musharraf campaign slogan: Dead cat on every bald head.

[outnow]

05:07 PM on 08/29/2007

Bush thinks that the U.S. Constitution is like the Bible - you try to read it once and disobey all of its commandments. He got all of his foreign policy experience at IHOP. That's right - International House of Pancakes!

Bush looked into Putin's soul and saw that they were two peas in a pod. Both used terrorist activity to take over their respective countries, Putin in 1999 (read Blowing Up Russia)and Bush in 2001. As the decoder said, "Everything is different after 9-11, the New World Order is in effect, and Cheney is acting President."

Be careful about Palonium in sushi over the weekend. Anthrax is also to be avoided. Let Bush open your mail first.

[TJTelecaster]

05:06 PM on 08/29/2007

Bush practically declared war on Iran yesterday as it is..

The Democrats and Pelosi not Impeaching this guy or starting Impeachment investigations and hearings has doomed millions maybe more to death history will remember this Congress as accomplices to mass murderer..!

Failure to Impeach = Armageddon..!

[TimtheDemocrat]

04:41 PM on 08/29/2007

Ruh Ro!


Please don't kill me, here are the nuclear codes and I'll resign tommorrow!

[Sanjong Thapa]

04:08 PM on 08/29/2007

anyone wanna chime in that Obama was right about this?

[JoshuaGeneration]

07:41 PM on 08/29/2007

Yep...I aaid as much on another thread about Obama. Musharraf is not that necessary in the scheme of things. Pissing off a weak player like him is of little consequence at this point. What's even better is that the military has never been much beholding to the the civilian rule in Pakistan. Bhutto was weak and she was overthrown because she was incompetent. She had zero control of the military. It remains to be seen exactly who the new Military chief will be and to whom that person will report. They should report to the prime minister who will be elected between Bhutto and Sharif if things work according to the proper pecking order in a parlaimentary government.

[Cautious]

03:13 PM on 08/29/2007

"Well while Chimpy McFlightSuit ... worries about Iraqi civil War ... and invisible WMD's ... Pakistan who actually has nukes ... is about to go Sharia after US puppet and dictator Musharaff gets ousted."

DUH. Your ignorance is showing. Bhutto is a woman. What does that say about the ascendance of Sharia in Pakistan? She's moderate/liberal, which is partly why she's out of power now.

But Sharia and a woman president really are mutually exclusive.

[LIR]

03:56 PM on 08/29/2007

We will see.

[ProudAmericanLiberal]

03:07 PM on 08/29/2007

Contrary to the above posters, Musharraf stepping down is a good thing. His presence as a military commander in charge of all of Pakistan has been a lightning rod for extremists and he is losing influence.
When he took power in a coup in 1999, he ousted a democratically elected government and exiled all the leaders who opposed him on corruption charges. Those leaders are coming back, and rule by the constitution is going to be restored.
Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister toppled in 1999, is center-right, and Benazir Bhutto, another former prime minister (on the center-left), who was also exiled on corruption charges by Musharraf, are returning to manage their respective parties runs for the coming presidential elections.
I think this is a hopeful sign that sanity, as well as true democracy is returning to Pakistan.

[LIR]

03:56 PM on 08/29/2007

I share your optimism, especially about Ms. Bhutto...I have met her. She is brilliant...what a contrast from the Moron In Chief! Yet one wonders how much power sharing will go on...still, if this yields any hopes for Pakistani democracy it will be a good thing. But I worry that this alliance will have any impact on the radical elements in the country. I am hoping that somehow it works.

[researcher]

02:46 PM on 08/29/2007

We looked in all the wrong places for nukes. Do they have oil?

If they do time to invade and put in our own puppet government like we did in Vietnam and now Iraq.

As a Christian I love America as my military industrial stock went up 8% last month when Wall Street heard that the surge was working. Jesus was a capitalist you know and taught that countries should have huge military budgets to inflict fear upon the world by carrying a big stick rather than spend that money on something as mundane as universal health care like the commies in America want.

God I hate socialized medicine and commies. Do you know that in socialized medicine they actually want to take care of everyone in their country and not just those that can afford it. Dummies where’s the profit in that. Commies all of them.

I love American generals they never lie and they are always willing to stand up to their commander and chief for the good of their country like Powell did. Truly a great American that Powell guy.

[Destin]

04:00 PM on 08/29/2007

researcher
"We looked in all the wrong places for nukes. Do they have oil?"

LOTS!! And Bolochistan regions is full of natural gas too. That's why the ISI, Al Qaeda and Taliban are all there in safety with their buddies the CIA backed Jondollah. They're all fighting the "western aggression" being forced on them by the corporate overlords who want all that oil and natural gas in the poor/repressed areas and are using the Pakistani military to kill civilians who resist and won't get off the land, or who encroach. Naturally, terrorism has grown up around this too.

"Pakistan troops guard gas field" 12 Jan 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4167299.stm

"Two killed in Balochistan blast" 2 Apr 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4869812.stm

"Balochistan gas pipeline blown up" 10 Jun 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5066818.stm

"Balochistan gas pipeline blown up" 8 Aug 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5255462.stm

That's just a sampling from 2 pages worth of the "news" section on the BBC site after typing in "balochistan oil gas" for search items. ;)

But here's a story with some real meat to it.....

"Army on offensive in Balochistan" 19 Dec 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4542300.stm

"Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships have launched an operation against tribal rebels in the troubled province of Balochistan."

"
Balach Marri, a provincial MP for the Kohlu area, said he had reports that a number of people had been killed in the raids - although he could not confirm the exact number.

"The army has arrested hundreds of innocent people in the operation, which is still going on, and in which jet fighters and helicopter gunships are participating," he told the Associated Press news agency."

"The town of Sui, which houses major oil and gas installations, has been sealed off."

[Ammobob]

02:38 PM on 08/29/2007

His symbolic gesture will be received well by the Pakastani's HE ALLOWS to vote. The RADICALS will still be radicals deserving of extermination.

[factanonverba]

02:18 PM on 08/29/2007

Pakistan seems to edge ever closer to a precipice. Its vaunted ISI has ties to both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and who knows what other shadowy Islamist terror front organizations. Musharraf, no doubt, has his flaws but all things being equal it is hard to envision a more capable leader for the world's second largest Muslim nation. Granted he is the West's man, hardly the best choice for the Pakistanis themselves. Bhutto hardly seems an alternative in a realist world much less a liberal world. In our quest for an understanding with Islamic societies no relationship is as important as the one with Pakistan. If Pakistan unravels, the hopes for co-existence with Islam suffers severely. This is not to underestimate the importance to foster an entente with Iran and Syria nor to dismiss the notion that we have failed to impress the Saudi royal family on the need to construct a world where the great schism between the West and Orientalism can be bridged but Pakistan's stability is something that we cannot afford to be without.

[amanda85]

05:14 PM on 08/29/2007

"Its vaunted ISI has ties to both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda"

Yep, and it's ==HEAVILY== involved in the 911 plot, even though the US government has always denied it. Oddly, though, the so called "Al Qaeda banker" (the ONLY piece of circumstantial evidence of Al Qaeda's involvement in 911) was found to be an ISI agent and since then the MSM has stopped mentioning him. Strangely enough, most of the MSM on-line articles referring to him have been deleted...

[frozenporklander]

01:54 PM on 08/29/2007

Is it just me, or does it seem to anyone else that Pervez Musharraf and Alberto Gonzales look like brothers? And now they are quitting at the same time. I'm just saying.

[sammy333]

02:43 PM on 08/29/2007

They do, it is just sloppy shaving, hair and an oversize jacket. But yes, you are right. Another similarity: they both served to George Bush.

[8thAvatar]

03:46 PM on 08/29/2007

"they both served to George Bush."
one difference in serving though, one can openly say that he Serverd other can not....

[Zapatista]

01:51 PM on 08/29/2007

Nuclear Holocaust on the WAY !!! Yeaaa


= Too bad Jesus won't be showing up

[Zapatista]

01:55 PM on 08/29/2007

----> So kids ... what have we learned today ?

Well while Chimpy McFlightSuit ... worries about Iraqi civil War ... and invisible WMD's ... Pakistan who actually has nukes ... is about to go Sharia after US puppet and dictator Musharaff gets ousted.

Meanwhile ... the leader of the free world has an IQ of 47 ... and is expecting the return of a flying Jewish carpenter who was nailed to some wood 2,000 years ago.


Hmm ... no wonder the Great Hunter S Thompson blew his brains out ;o/

[Destin]

03:47 PM on 08/29/2007

News to Zapatista, lol, Pakistan has been sharia since the late 1980's when Bhutto was overthrown the first time. She tried to restore democracy when she was reelected in 1994, but was overthrown and exiled again in 1996 with death warrants placed on her. Sharif took her place, only to be ousted 3 years later by Musharaff. ;) They have never repealed Sharia law. That's why they are Bush's best friend. One dictatorial system is always gonna love another.