Sharif may face courtmartial
Shifted to Attock

ISLAMABAD, Oct 19 (PTI) — Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is likely to face court martial even as a section of his Pakistan Muslim League (PML) colleagues is demanding his trial on treason charges and for trying to manoeuvre the constitution for personal gains, media report said today.

There are visible signs that Sharif, still under army custody, will be tried in various cases in the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) though a final decision is yet to be taken by the military high-ups, the news said quoting officials.

"His (Sharif’s) case is fit to be taken up by the FGCM," a senior official was quoted as saying.

Demands are also being raised from within the PML itself that the ousted Premier be tried on charges of "treason" and "using the constitution for personal gains".

Former Interior Minister and a senior PML leader Zahid Sarfaraz told reporters yesterday that Sharif should be tried on "treason charges" for conspiring to physically eliminate General Pervez Musharraf.

The News said the first indication of Sharif’s court martial was given by Musharraf, who took over as the Chief Executive after overthrowing the government, during his address to the nation on October 13.

General Musharraf had alleged that Sharif was engaged in conspiracy against the army and the report said several experts on army laws are convinced that any civilian can be tried for conspiring against the armed forces.

The second charge against Sharif is that his government tried to prevent the aircraft carrying General Musharraf from Colombo along with nearly 200 passengers from landing at Karachi airport which could have led to a disaster as the plane was running short of fuel, The News said.

It said based on "solid evidences" several other cases were also being prepared against Sharif for allegedly working against the national security institutions.

A number of Sharif’s close advisers, including some journalists, could also face trial on the charge of instigating the ousted Prime Minister to sack Musharraf and being party to the whole conspiracy, it said.

Unconfirmed reports said Sharif had been shifted to Attock — a move taken as another indication of court martial against him. Army officials are, however, tight-lipped about his whereabouts.

Meanwhile, quite a few PML leaders have welcomed the army takeover.

Charging the Sharif and Bhutto families with ruining the country, Sarfaraz said the interim set-up should remain for at least two years to revive the democratic system.

Pakistan’s army authorities have seized tax-related documents of deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif and his brother, the sacked Punjab province Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, even as the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) is preparing a list of alleged tax dodgers across the country.

The documents were seized when the army raided offices of the Ittefaq Group owned by the Sharif family in Lahore a few days ago, the Pakistan Observer newspaper reported quoting sources.

During the raid, the military team was accompanied by a senior CBR official from Islamabad who scrutinised the documents and gave necessary advice to army officials, it said.

Documents related to income tax, wealth tax and other matters were seized and offices of the group were sealed after asking the employees to vacate them, the daily said.

In Islamabad, military officials have taken control of the Ministry of Finance which has been sealed and would re-open only after the appointment of a financial specialist in the newly-formed National Security Council, it said.

With the seizure of the tax-related documents, it seems the noose is tightening around Sharif and others as earlier reports had said he and his brother had not paid any tax last year despite declaring massive assets in their tax returns and figuring in the list of ten richest people in the country.

Pak ready for package deal

LONDON, Oct 19 (PTI) — Pakistan is prepared to take up Kashmir and all other contentious issues with India "as a package", its new military ruler Gen Parvez Musharraf has said.

"I am prepared to deal with India on all contentious issues as a package and the status of Kashmir cannot be treated separately," Gen Musharraf said in an interview published in the Guardian newspaper today.

The General, who "sacked" the Nawaz Sharif government in a coup on October 12, however, said neither had he called Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee nor was he planning to do so.

In his first interview with a British newspaper, the chief executive of Pakistan said accountability was the key factor and his first task was a "thorough cleansing of the nation. We will start at the top and work down. Nobody is out of the ring. We have a lot of work to do".

Gen Musharraf said he proposed to announce the "caretaker government" in a few days. The delay, he said, had not been due to indecision. "The delay has been getting the right people".

For the detailed interview, please click here

Road unclear for new ruler
From I.A. Rehman

LAHORE, Oct 19 — General Parvez Musharraf should be a considerably relieved man. He has passed the first test every military chief faces after overthrowing an elected government securing acceptance of the change by the public.

It would be naive to presume that nobody has been made unhappy by the military’s taking over, but those taking an adverse view are understandably quiet, while wide-scale condemnation of the ousted regime and resistance to proposals for return to democracy in circumstances that throw up another bad government is all that the new regime at the moment needs. What is significant is that apart from the man in the street the coup is being endorsed by opinion-makers in the intelligentsia.

The General’s address on Sunday clearly proceeded from the assumption that the ends justify the means and if a people’s immediate grievances are addressed they can be persuaded to blink at the extinction of constitutional order.

His first priority as reflected in the address was the need to reassure the foreign governments. The ideal of democracy was not rejected and the military takeover was described as the first step towards it.

The world’s concern at nuclear proliferation was acknowledged and a declaration of good intent made. Relations with India were to be normalised subject to a caveat about Kashmir no one expects any regime in Pakistan to forget.

The minorities were promised equal status with Muslims and the media’s role was not only admired, a hint was dropped that it could be made freer. All this had the desired effect and the USA provided comfort by responding favourably, and if Washington "can be kept in a friendly frame of mind, Islamabad, true to its tradition, feels relieved.

The angry response from the European Union and the Commonwealth will cause anxiety but the regime does not feel as isolated as did Gen Zia during the early phase of his regime.

As for domestic consumption the General shared the people’s anguish at the degradation of the country and the collapse of all institutions of governance, and put balm on some festering sores. Economic revival was mentioned as the top priority before the new regime, and nobody can disagree with that.

The people are worried about violence in the name of religion, they were reminded of tolerance. The less populous provinces (Sindh, Frontier and Baluchistan) are unhappy with the federal arrangement, increase in their autonomy and tension-free inter-provincial relations were promised.

References to devolution of power not only from the centre to the provinces but also from the latter to local bodies are supported by all sections of society, particularly by major urban centres (especially Karachi). And a resolve to punish all plunderers of national wealth injects so much honey into a majority’s ears that it stops thinking about anything else. Thus, a very large number of people aggrieved by the ousted system were disarmed and their expectations of good ends regardless of means aroused.

However, the road ahead is still unclear. How will the proposed National Security Council function? Will it only lay down policy guidelines and intervene in matters of high importance alone or will it oversee day-to-day functioning of the government?

Will it be a committee of deputy chief executives or function as a mini-parliament? What will be the precise role of the federal cabinet and what will be the relationship of provincial cabinets with the centre?

Will the provisions of the constitution-in-abeyance apply or will new rules of business be devised? Above all, will Pakistan have NSC for-ever?

Another difficulty is finding experts with any practical experience of reform and reconstruction and who are accepted by the public as truly non-partisan. The list available is too short to make choices easy.

Meanwhile, the paralysis suffered by Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League has again invited attention to a basic flaw in the kind of civilian rule Pakistan has had, in particular since the end of Gen Zia’s regime. All political parties have behaved as personal retinues of supreme leaders. With Nawaz Sharif and Shabbaz Sharif becoming inaccessible the Muslim League party finds itself unable to move or speak.

Indeed, the familiar game of preferring personal escape to party loyalty seems to have begun. The party may eventually re-emerge in some shape but only when its head’s position becomes clearer and it is able to issue commands to the crowd. In any case it is doubtful if the folly of raising a democratic structure without normally functioning political parties has been generally recognised.

Foreign Secretary rules out troop pullout from LoC

ISLAMABAD, Oct 19 (PTI) — Pakistan today ruled out any possibility of withdrawing troops from the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir and regretted India’s "negative response" to its offer for unconditional resumption of dialogue claiming that creation of a "requisite atmosphere" for talks "entirely" rested with India.

Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed, in his first press briefing since the Army takeover on October 12, told reporters here the situation on the LoC was quite different from the International Border with India from where troops were being pulled back as part of the "unilateral withdrawal" announced by the Army ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf.

"We all know (that) the situation regarding the LoC is qualitatively different," Mr Ahmed said, adding the LoC had always been "volatile" with heavy concentration of troops across it.

Under the present circumstances of "shelling and indiscriminate firing" by Indian troops, "it is not prudent to lower our guards", he said.

General Musharraf, during his address to the nation on Sunday, had offered an "unconditional and result-oriented dialogue" with India and announced the unilateral withdrawal of his troops from the International Border as a confidence-building measure.

Asked whether there was any response from India to this offer, Mr Ahmed said though there had not been any direct response, as per reports monitored here, there had been some statements emanating from New Delhi. "Unfortunately, it is not a positive response."

He said General Musharraf had made a "positive offer" of resuming dialogue and also taken an "important initiative" in terms of confidence-building measure and hence "we remain prepared for an unconditional and meaningful dialogue. That is our response".