ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan lurched between crises Friday, with its military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, dismissing talk of a coup and canceling a visit by a top U.S. general, a sign that Pakistani fury at the United States over airstrikes that killed 26 soldiers is far from abating.
Concern has been growing in Pakistan and abroad that the crises -- a political struggle that has pitted civilian officials against the military, and the fraying ties with the United States -- are distracting from deeper threats to stability, primarily the faltering economy and the festering Taliban insurgency.
The militants offered a sharp reminder of their potency Friday, killing one soldier and abducting 15 in an attack on a paramilitary post in the country's northwest, police said. The Taliban threatened to kill the captives.
But Pakistan's focus Friday was on talk of a military coup. Rumors were sparked a day earlier, when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani warned publicly of a conspiracy to topple the government. He was careful not to openly accuse the military of plotting a takeover, but he did say it must answer to the elected government and cannot operate as a "state within a state."
It takes very little to stoke rumors of a coup in Pakistan, where the military has ruled for more than half the country's history. Even now, nearly four years after the restoration of democracy, the military remains Pakistan's dominant institution, and it largely dictates foreign policy and national security matters.
But the military has made no open moves to assert control over the government despite a widespread perception among its ranks and the broader population that members of Pakistan's squabbling political elite are incapable of taking on the country's challenges.
"The army will continue to support democratic process in the country," Gen. Kayani said in remarks to troops stationed in the northwestern tribal areas, where the army is struggling to contain the Pakistan Taliban, an offshoot of the Afghan insurgent movement, according to a military statement released Friday.
The statement said Gen. Kayani told soldiers during a visit Thursday that coup talk is being "used as a bogey to divert the focus from the real issues." He said there would be "no compromise on national security."
The military did not elaborate on what Gen. Kayani meant. But his remarks were seen as a reference to allegations that Pakistan's former U.S. ambassador, backed by the elected government, had sought Washington's help in heading off a coup and asserting civilian control over the military after the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May. The allegations are particularly inflammatory because many Pakistanis see the United States as an enemy despite the long-standing alliance between Washington and Islamabad.
The appeal to Washington was made in a memo that a Pakistani-U.S. businessman, Mansoor Ijaz, has alleged the former ambassador authored and then asked him to convey to Adm. Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Former Ambassador Husain Haqqani has denied authoring the memo, and the civilian government has backed him. But he nonetheless was forced to resign, and his passport was confiscated upon his return to Pakistan in late November.
Suspicion has since spread to President Asif Ali Zardari, who left Pakistan earlier this month and admitted himself to a Dubai hospital, complaining of chest pains. His sudden departure helped to incite the latest round of coup rumors, although he has since returned and began working again Friday.
The military has signaled that it believes the memo was the work of Mr. Haqqani and possibly the president. It urged the Supreme Court to open an inquiry, which the justices are weighing.
First published on December 24, 2011 at 12:00 am
Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11358/1199091-82-0.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml
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